IPL has opened a lot of doors for cultural expansion, feels Kane Richardson
Kane Richardson is of the opinion that interaction with players from various countries in the IPL has helped the cause of cultural expansion. Richardson was also at his political best when answering a question pertaining to what he would choose if IPL happens during the Aussie domestic calendar.
After Darren Sammy brought the case of racism during his stay at Sunrisers Hyderabad, in the wake of Black Lives Matter movement, there has been a lot of cultural commentary around the subject. While many sided with the argument that intent matters over remarks, the lack of knowledge among the South Asians regarding the difference between Colourism and Racism made it a bigger educational battle. Kane Richardson, offering his two cents on it, stated that the Indian Premier League, thanks to its multicultural nature, has bridged the gap just by players from different parts of the world sharing one dressing room.
"If you are willing and able to talk, and most importantly listen, you can learn a lot about different people. It's a pretty multicultural game, think the IPL has opened a lot of doors, you just learn about so many different people and cultures. Guys you'd just play against now you call teammates for a couple of months a year. You learn about everyone's life stories, that can only be a good thing, and it's probably brought a lot of people together. That's the beauty of sport in general, you just learn how different races and walks of life go about it," Richardson was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
"There's so much downtime in the IPL, even sitting next to someone on a plane. Even in the Australian team, you can learn a lot about someone by sitting next to them on a couple of hour plane flight. It's up to an individual whether they want to get to know someone and put that time in," he said.
Yesterday, the International Cricket Council further delayed the decision on the 2020 Menās T20 World Cup, potentially delaying the plans for the Indian Premier League. However, Sourav Ganguly first and then Brijesh Patel stated that the BCCI is working on possible plans to make the IPL happen. On being asked about the same, the RCB bowler was at his political best, quipping it swiftly.
"It's going to be the IPL behind the World Cup. If it clashes with the start of the domestic summer, then that's up for debate and above us players on what decision will be made. But I guess we'll just wait and see on the World Cup and if that does get postponed and the IPL can take that slot, then a lot of guys will be keen to play in that. But I've read a lot of commentary around a lot of past players saying that maybe it's better if we stay back here and play in Australia. So there's probably no wrong answer as long as we're playing cricket, everyone is keen on doing that right now," the Melbourne Renegades bowler added.