MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid as Important as ‘Larger than Life’ Virat Kohli, Ben Stokes - Dave Richardson

ICC CEO David Richardson recently admitted that while cricket needs the likes of Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes, it also requires an MS Dhoni or Rahul Dravid as a balancing act.

Meanwhile, Richardson recently was giving his MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at the Lord’s. He noted that cricket needs its larger than life characters and it’s more mellow exponents to balance the extra things.

“On the field, the cricket needs its larger than life characters. Its Colin Milburn’s, Freddie Flintoff’s, Shane Warnes, Virat Kohli’s, Ben Stokes but we equally it needs its Frank Worrells, its Mahendra Singh Dhonis, its Rahul Dravid’s, it’s Colin Cowdrey’s to make sure that we all stay in the good side of that line,” Dave Richardson said.

The former South African also talked about players and coaches questioning decisions made by officials. He also said that winning at the cost of integrity will not be acceptable.

“Too many coaches or team managers of recent times are too quick to side with their players; They blame the umpires for being biased against their team, storming off to the match referee’s room to complain,” he said. “Winning must be the aim of any game but not at all costs, not when it means compromising the integrity of the game,” Dave Richardson added.

He also noted that all the backroom staff should act as a guardian of the spirit of cricket. He also noted that it is such an exciting time for the sport. Cricket is in excellent health, with more than a billion fans around the world and room for much more growth. Dave Richardson urged everybody to work collectively and solve the problems associated to it.