Former West Indies legend Michael Holding mostly makes the headlines for his anti-racism stand. Holding has also released a new book, ‘Why We Kneel, How We Rise’, that gives a new perspective on the institutional and systematic discrimination of the Black.
The 67-year-old gave an interview on the same and spoke about various topics at length. Talking about T20 cricket, Holding opined that it has damaged the cricket of his native country. The Kingston-born expounded that Windies’ cricketers are more interested in making money through the entertainment that comes with the shortest format of the game than toiling hard for Test matches.
“Many West Indies players are not interested in playing for the 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,” Holding told Indian Express on Tuesday.
One being quizzed why he didn’t commentate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, Holding remarked that he only plies for his articulating skills in cricket, and T20 isn’t a pure form of the game.
“I only commentate on cricket,” Holding quipped.
The cricketer-turned commentator further compared Indian skipper Virat Kohli with former West Indies captain Viv Richards and pointed out that the latter too carried his heart on the sleeves. Holding suggested that Kohli should tone down his aggression a bit.
“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,” Holding concluded.
Holding was a part of the World Cup Winning squad in 1979 and played 60 Tests and 102 ODIs to bag 391 scalps in total.
