India will have to rely heavily on their pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah to win Test matches, but they have the ability to beat every side in 50-over games, given the depth of their talent, feels South African-born England legend Allan Lamb.
The ex-cricketer, who now runs ‘Lamb Associates’, a successful hospitality venture, is happy with the rise of Indian cricket and how the IPL has been life-changing for cricketers around the world, but he is not too happy with the way ICC is running Test cricket.
The 71-year-old, who represented England in three Wold Cups and 79 Tests, and witnessed the historic occasion of South Africa winning the World Test Championship final, is far from convinced with how the WTC can survive in its existing format.
Forced to move to England from SA in the Apartheid era, he gave his thoughts on the controversial racial quota system in South African cricket.
Speaking to PTI, Lamb also spoke passionately about his playing days with Kapil Dev in County cricket and why he rates Sachin Tendulkar over Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli.
You toured India for the first time in the 1984-85 series, having made your debut at Lord’s in 1982 against India. How would you sum up the rise of Indian cricket?
I always thought that Indian cricket was going to go up, it was on the gradual climb. And because of the population and being your number one sport, cricket was always going to be the top of the tree.
The IPL has changed cricket in India and the world. It’s incredible to see these youngsters coming through, the 15-year-olds and the 16-year-olds (like Vaibhav Suryavanshi), and making a name for themselves.
In one day cricket, India should win every competition. In Test matches, you’re going to rely a lot on Bumrah and you’re going to miss Virat Kohli big time.
Would you have fancied playing in the IPL and how has it changed the life of an international cricketer?
It’s changed the life of all cricketers that are playing now. They don’t have to play Test cricket. They can just have 20-20 contracts all around the world and earn a fortune. I mean, the money we earned was tippings when we played. But good for them. They deserve all the millions; as entertainers they deserve to be paid.
And would have I enjoyed the IPL? Yeah, because when I played, I always waited till the last 20 overs or the last 10 overs if we’re playing a 50-over game.
You played with the great Kapil Dev at Northamptonshire and played against the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. Who is your favourite Indian cricketer of all time?
I love the way Kapil Dev played. We played together at Northampton. I remember him coming over and I saying, ‘Kapi, I’m so pleased that you’ve come over. We need to strengthen our bowling’. He said, ‘no I haven’t come to strengthen my bowling. I’ve come to better my batting. I’ve come here as a batsman, which I always enjoyed that’.
Gavaskar, Sachin or Kohli?
Sachin easily. I played against him when he was 18. I dropped him at slip and he went to get 100 (in a Test match). So I always say to him, it was me that made your name (laughs).
Kohli is a brilliant player, he’s got all the shots, he can score quickly. But if you want the best player I played against, that Indian player is Sachin, even ahead of Sunny. The only thing I would have liked to see Sachin play the West Indies, where Sunny scored runs against the West Indies. He was probably the only Indian to score runs against those quicks.
You are not a fan of the current WTC format. Why is that?
The ICC is going to have to do something about it because the format they have for international Test matches, people are not too sure what is going on there as it’s done over two years.
There are some teams, like everyone said, that South Africa qualified due to the fact that they played all the weaker teams. But that wasn’t South Africa’s problem. That was the ICC’s problem. They came up with that.
And, I believe, you need a two-tier structure. And that’s got to come in very rapidly. The ICC chairman, he’s got to sit down, otherwise, cricket’s going to be at a loss. You need strong teams playing each other but they’ve also got to play the weaker teams.
South Africa, the country of your birth, has finally won a world title. You must be a happy man?
Yes, I was there (at Lord’s). We had customers, clients there, and it was fantastic. I mean, South Africa are known as the chokers. If you have a look how many times they’ve blown it. Very proud of the way Aiden Markram batter under pressure.
You had to move to England during Apartheid and till date South Africa remains a divided nation in the words of Proteas captain Temba Bavuma. While rugby has no strict quota system at the national level, the cricket team does. Your thoughts?
Rugby seems to have got it right, but cricket hasn’t got it right. The system has been overdone. It’s now basically, you are only allowed a certain amount of white players playing (an average of six coloured players including two Africans over the course of a season).
South Africa could be a stronger team if they pick players on merit (and not on quota). Those days of Apartheid are long gone. The coloureds, the Indians and the blacks and the whites, they’ve got to work properly together and say, ‘hey, if that guy’s good enough, he must play’. We must pick the best team we can have.
