Michael Holding opines that IPL isn't even Cricket and T20s are the bane of the sport

Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding believes that T20 cricket 'is not cricket' at all and the teams who are winning the T20 tournaments are not 'reviving their Cricket'. Michael Holding recently in an interview with the Indian Express talked about various cricketing aspects and also outlined why the cricket of West Indies is 'not reviving' despite winning T20 tournaments including the last World Cup. The 67-year-old pacer-turned-commentator also gave a stinging reply when he was asked about commentating in IPL.

'T20 tournaments are the bane for cricket,' says Michael Holding

Talking about West Indies' cricket revival as the Caribbean team won the T20 world cup apart from other T20 tournaments, Holding said that winning a T20 tournament is not the revival of cricket, in fact, he said it is not even cricket. 'The T20 tournaments around the world are the bane of the game', said Michael Holding. On being asked if he has found commentating in IPL interesting, Holding said, 'I only commentate on cricket.' Michael Holding also said that West Indies players who have preferred to play the T20 tournaments rather than playing for the country are not at fault and it is actually the fault of the administrators.  

Notably, Michael Holding's criticism of T20 tournaments comes when teams around the world are preparing for the T20 World Cup, and West Indies are one of the favourites to win the marquee event. 

Michael Holding was part of the West Indies team that won the 1979 World Cup and finished runner-up in the 1983 World Cup. He was a part of the famous pace quartet under Clive Lloyd's captaincy that took West Indies to the peak of Test cricket from the late 1970s to the 1980s. In his cricketing career, Michael Holding has picked up 249 wickets in 60 Test matches and 142 wickets in 102 ODIs for the West Indies.

T20 World Cup To Be Held In UAE, Confirms BCCI Secretary Jay Shah

Meanwhile, the ICC T20 World Cup is expected to be scheduled after the remaining season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 is hosted. The decision to shift the ICC Men's T20 World Cup to UAE was taken after a meeting which was headed by BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah. Speaking to news agency ANI, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said, "We will inform the International Cricket Council today that we are shifting T20 World Cup to UAE. Dates will be decided by the ICC."

T20 World Cup 2021 teams

The upcoming T20 World Cup 2021 is the seventh edition of the tournament which comes five years after the last event was held in India in 2016. As many as sixteen teams from across the world will be competing, including Papua New Guinea as the newest qualified nation. The teams that will battle it out in the T20 World Cup 2021 are Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. 

(Image Credits: AP/PTI)