Brian Lara says cannot blame WI players cannot for preferring IPL to national duty

Brian Lara believes West Indies cricketers prioritize T20 leagues over national duty due to financial incentives, impacting their performance.

Legendary batter Brian Lara feels that West Indies cricketers cannot be faulted for preferring lucrative T20 franchise leagues around the world, like IPL, to national duty, saying playing the game these days is also about "making a living".

One of the reasons of West Indies' decline, especially in Test cricket, has been the advent of T20 franchise cricket, with a handful of the Caribbean stars choosing to chase lucrative deals around the world instead of representing their nation in red-ball cricket.

“For an 18-or-19-year-old to say, 'I’m heading to the IPL', or, 'I don’t care about West Indies cricket'... It’s not just his fault," Lara told Sen Sportsday.

“(About) 40 or 50 years ago, you may have been driven or motivated by playing for your country. But the sport today is about playing and making a living, so we have to make sure that that is part of the whole deal that we are selling," said the former captain who is here as team mentor for the two-match Test series against Australia starting on Wednesday.

Lara admitted the difficulty on the part of the West Indies Cricket Board (CWI) to compete with lucrative franchise leagues around the world.

“We’ve got to face the facts. The franchise cricket that is being played around the world, it is very difficult for the West Cricket Board to compete with such lucrative opportunities that our cricketers have."

He said it would be difficult to change the mindset of the current crop of players, and so the West Indies Cricket Board must try to instil the next generation the importance of representing their part of the world on the global stage. He said that push must be made in underage cricket and at schools.