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| November 08, 2006 | Wednesday | Shawwal 15, 1427 |
Cricket owes a lot to Kerry Packer: Imran
MUMBAI, Nov 7: Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has praised Australian media magnate, Kerry Packer for giving the game of cricket a new lease of life some three decades ago and for infusing a fresh appeal into the game.
Addressing an impressive gathering here at the ICC awards ceremony last Saturday, Imran said: “In my opinion there was a watershed in cricket in the late 70s when the Kerry Packer phenomenon started. Suddenly cricket began to change. Before Packer came in, cricket was played in a different way, both in terms of pace and style.
“There were key areas where cricket changed on account of Packer. After his ‘circus’, one-day cricket, night cricket and coloured clothing came in. It impacted the fitness levels of cricketers. Running between the wickets and ground fielding standards changed because of the way one-day cricket evolved.”
Recalling his early days in cricket, Imran said: “Before I went to play World Series Cricket in 1978, I was paid 50 dollars for a Test match I played in Pakistan. After World Series Cricket salaries changed completely, professionalism came in and players could concentrate solely on the game. From there on the game evolved in a different direction as one-day cricket began to rule.”
“In the last 10 years, so much one-day cricket has been played. Innovative stroke play - some of the strokes we see right now did not exist at the time I was playing. In fact it has gone onto Test cricket; look at the run-rates in Test matches these days.”
Imran, one of the finest fast bowlers the game has seen, rued the fact that not enough quality fast bowlers were emerging in world cricket today. “What has suffered in the last 10 years in my opinion has been fast bowling. During the time of Kerry Packer there were so many fast bowlers around. Helmets came into cricket owing to them (fast bowlers). I remember the first year of Kerry Packer cricket when about seven to eight players suffered injuries. The depth and impact of fast bowling was such.” —Agencies
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