Kallicharan refuses to blame T20 generation

"I won't fault players if they want to secure their future," said Kallicharan.

A majority of West Indies players, who dominated the game in the 1970s and 1980s, come across as soft-spoken cricketers with a sense of humour. Alvin Kallicharan is no exception. Despite being a part of many historic Test series and two World Cup wins in 1975 and 1979, the left-handed middle-order batsman said: "My best cricketing moment was representing West Indies in my first Test. Getting hundred was a bonus, not the ultimate."

When asked about today's Twenty20 cricket and the current youngsters making an Indian Premier League contract top priority , Kallicharan said he won't blame the players. "I won't fault players if they want to secure their future," he said on Saturday (February 27). "I didn't join the Packer circus because I already had a county contract with Warwickshire. And they had told me clearly that if I signed with Packer, they would not renew my contract. Success in cricket was a matter of pride and enjoyment for me. But it was also about adding to my bank balance.

"We have to change with the times. Test matches under lights is fine with me. T20 cricket is necessary and all forms of cricket can co-exist. But we have to restore the balance between the bat and ball.You can't take away weapons of bowlers. If we had today's cricket bats, there would have been a shortage of cricket balls.Team bus was the only coach we had."

Kallicharan, who lives in England and the United States of America, was in Pune to contribute to Blades of Glory museum of Rohan Pate. "It took us eight months and many phone calls till I agreed to visit here. The museum is mind-boggling."

He said he loved the challenge of playing in Australia on bouncy wickets and playing in India against spinners.
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