Michael Holding, one of the legendary West Indies fast-bowlers says that he does not consider the T20 format as ‘cricket.’
In his recent statement, which brought storm all over social media, Michael Holding also opened up about the “institutionalized and systemic” racism in sports, insists T20 is “not even cricket”.
Known as one of the greatest commentators globally, he clearly announced not to commentate in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“Many West Indies players are not interested in playing for West Indies. When you are earning 600,000 or 800,000 dollars for six weeks, what are you going to do? I don’t blame the cricketers. I blame the administrators. West Indies will win T20 tournaments which aren’t cricket,” said Holding.
Upon asking why he didn’t commentate for IPL, Holding replied tersely: “I only commentate on cricket.”
The 67-years-old has reviewed the Indian captain Virat Kohli to Viv Richards but said Kohli has to tone down a bit as he gets carried away with the emotions on the field.
“Virat Kohli is someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s someone who will let you know exactly how he feels. I think he gets a bit carried away at times, but that is Virat Kohli, that is the man. He’s similar to Viv (Richards) in that regard. Viv, sometimes on the field, was over-expressive. But those are the personalities of those two gentlemen. They can tone down a little bit as well, but then, if you are a Mustang, it’s hard to tell a Mustang to trot. He’s going to gallop,” added Holding.
Holding who was the part of West Indies World Cup-winning squad in 1979, represented 60 Tests and 102 ODIs for a total of 391 wickets.
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