These are interesting times in cricket. There are more issues to be sorted for the administrators to retain the charm of the game. Vivian Richards, while he expresses his fascination for the modern, spoke to TOI on all the issues—from over-reliance on T20 cricket to player conduct to burnout issues to the dearth of quality in any team to match the dizzy heights of West Indies and Australia.
Excerpts…

Cricketers are choosing to be professionals in T20 cricket…
We could do with changing the international calendar. One format of the game may be successful and then we put our energies into that. Administrators have a huge role in making sure that it is an even playing field. Let’s not experiment too much with what we have. T20s did give cricket a facelift. Let’s not overlook the fact that the best players who played best T20s have played Test match cricket—AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. All these guys have balance in their base.

Your take on those who openly say they don’t want to play red-ball cricket…
I can bet you, if there wasn’t any T20, their first thoughts would have been about representing their countries. All these guys will achieve what they want to achieve if they are good enough players. If the administrators can find avenues for these individuals to play for their countries because it is a platform that every player needs to become good T20 players. T20 players when lose their form, it’s difficult to come back. The names mentioned earlier have played the best T20 cricket and best Test cricket because they understand the balance and the background they have.