DHAKA- The growing popularity of Twenty20 will not harm test cricket because the 2 formats of the game can thrive together, previous West Indies captain Brian Lara said on Thursday.
I believe now with T20 international cricket a lot more people are watching the game, Lara told the media in Bangladesh where he is an ambassador for the country T20 Premier League. Just remember, we are all entertainer. And if this kind of cricket brings interest to the people, cricketers will be happy to spoil in it.
Test cricket is still main, so are ODIs but T20 should be there too because of the crowd factor, Lara added. Lara, his played 131 tests and 299 one-dayers, never had the chance to play Twenty20 cricket at which West Indies are the current world champions.
Lara believes the growing fames of Twenty20 cricket will help West Indies generate more interest in the game among the younger generation. In the Caribbean we found it difficult to support teenagers to take up the game, said Lara. We are now launching our own domestic T20 competition. We will try to seek more youngsters play the game in the Caribbean.
You look at David, Warner, Gayle and Virender Sehwag. They are strong players in the T20 format. They bring a lot more thrill. You look at Warner bat in a test match. He can easily score 150 before tea. That's what people want to see. And I think the effect will be a positive one, he said.
Lara, who scored more than 10,000 runs in both tests and ODIs, added that it was unfair to blame the format for bowlers losing interest in test cricket. What I think is that the bowlers are pulling away from test cricket most likely due to the amount of work. The money on offer in T20 cricket is an attractive proposition for players, he said.
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