 Good for India to beat Australia in Australia: Lara
12th Mar 2008 21:02 IST
Agencies
"It (T20) brings different kind of crowd to the ground. I don't see any problem with it. It can evolve into something bigger in future," he said.
Foreseeing great future for Indian Premier League and Indian Cricket League, Lara said the competitions would increase options for individual players to play and earn more.
"The situation is unavoidable. People need to wake up to the fact that there are options for players unlike in the past," he said.
Lara also lamented that cricketers playing in ICL were being shunned by national boards like in New Zealand.
"They (Boards) got to get their act together, you cannot blame cricketer if he gets the chance to play in either of IPL or ICL. I have played in New Zealand. Once we 22 players played while entire stadium was empty while a crowd of 60,000 people was watching a rugby match in the adjacent ground."
"Now corporates are owning teams in IPL. Certainly that has created more options and an individual can make choice wherever he wants to play and earn good money," Lara said.
"Look at football, there are several leagues around the world. One player may be playing for one club next time he maybe playing for another club and there is no stigma (like ICL players are termed rebels and banned from national teams). Nobody is bothered who plays where," he said.
On his own form in the inaugural edition of the ICL in which he captains the Mumbai Champs team, Lara admitted that he had a miserable stint.
Lara had scored just 16 runs from four matches in which he played only 24 balls. The fifth match, the only rubber Mumbai Champs won, Lara did not bat.
"I didn't have good outing, I was injured but since I have commitment I had to honour it," he said. |
