Sir Ian Botham scored 5200 runs and took 383 wickets in 102 Tests for England.
Legendary England all-rounder Sir Ian Botham has received a backlash from Indian cricket fans after he stated that it was a problem as India had too much power nowadays in the cricketing world. He went on to blame the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the worsening condition of the West Indies cricket team.
Though it only gets 38.5% from the central pool, the BCCI makes almost 85% of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) TV revenue.
Sir Ian Botham was the most recent guest on the podcast The Overlap: Stick to Cricket, which also featured Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook, David Lloyd, and Phil Tufnell, discussing the financial power of the BCCI.
While discussing various cricketing matters, Vaughan asked Botham whether he feels “India have too much power?”
Botham agreed with Vaughan and also suggested that India should share some of its wealth with other boards as well.
"Yeah, well, that's the thing. Look, they've created that with their spending, and that is the, what was it, 900 and something million? It's getting on for a billion,” Botham said on the podcast.
When asked by Lloyd about the poor condition of cricket in the Caribbean islands, Botham then discussed the specific effects on the Caribbean, stating that poor compensation at the international level with Cricket West Indies was a primary cause of the exodus of elite West Indian players to the IPL and other leagues.
"Well, that's a problem, and I think the reason that the best players in the Caribbean nowadays are going to the IPL and other formats normally is that they're not getting paid the amount they should be, it must be," Botham said on the podcast.
Indian supporters took exception to this, accusing the former England batsman of being envious as the board from his nation also benefited when it led the cricketing globe.
Here are some reactions: