Former England captain Tony Lewis believes seniors need to be respected and be allowed to exit on their own.

By Divyashree Gupta

Former England captain Tony Lewis says the remaining three members of India's "Fab 5" should not be forced to retire. With Sourav Ganguly playing his last Test match in Nagpur and Anil Kumble deciding to hang his boots after the Delhi Test last week, Lewis said: "Anybody's career just can't be cut off like that."

Speaking to Mobile ESPN in Delhi recently, the former MCC president said: "I wouldn't be so bold as to advise them when to go. They've been wonderful cricketers, wonderful entertainers too. Sachin has always been very very special. I don't wish anybody's career to be cut off like that. I think they deserve all the confidence and trust the Indian public can give them."

He may have been rather ineffective -- first wicket in Delhi Test after 85 overs -- in the series against Australia, but Lewis rated Kumble among the best in the business, not only as a bowler, but as a captain as well.

"It's easy to say Anil hasn't got wickets, but in a career you ask Derek Underwood (the current MCC President) how many times he went wicketless in a Test match, and it'd be quite often," Lewis said, adding, Kumble had the intellect, enthusiasm and understanding of cricketers to be an outstanding captain.

Lewis was a special cricketer. He actually led England in his first Test match. Asked to comment whether Ganguly was India's best captain, he said: "It's not for me to rate him, though I was commentating on him when Ganguly was playing. I saw that he was thoughtful but slightly isolated. Sometimes that works, sometimes that's good."

The chairman of MCC's cricket committee, Lewis says T20 may be smart but it still doesn't threaten the future of Test cricket. "It's different in different countries. I saw the opening of the T20 Indian Premier League in Bangalore. There were 40,000 people and there were fireworks at midnight. It was highly exciting for sure but India, I'm sure, will sustain Test cricket because there's passion for the game which I knew long ago from the days that I toured here."

"In Australia and England, there's still a solid Test match following. It doesn't actually matter what the cricket is. They'll always go to the Lord's on the first four days of a Test match, they'll always go to the Melbourne Cricket Ground or the Sydney Cricket Ground so I think there's a big tradition and I don't feel Twenty20 is going to damage that," Lewis said.

The England Board may consider the IPL as a bully, but Lewis is still not on the same page. The recent spate of controversy suggesting IPL forcing Sri Lanka to pull out of a series against England, may not be true, if Lewis is to be believed.

"We talked to Mr (I.S) Bindra. According to him, there were no intention of trying to persuade Sri Lanka to walk away from an England tour. He feels everything can be done by adjustment as there are enough days in a year. Bindra imagines 15 Test matches are enough and T20 can be fitted in.

"Hopefully it can induct kids into the game and help them understand Test cricket. T20 teams aren't that spectacular if they don't have established Test players in them."

Still the purist at heart, Lewis says he is not jealous of T20 cricket and it's growing popularity. "What we would love to see is the emptier grounds around the world fill up. T20 is fine and 50-50 is fine but the pinnacle of skill is definitely the longer game. It's a bit like playing drafts and playing chess. In musical terms it's like hearing an overture rather than a symphony. The skills are deeper and we all enjoy that."

It's just not Test cricket, but Lewis informed MCC was trying to revive the art of spin bowling in England. "Derek was pointing out that basic spin bowling and finger spin bowling, ala Prasanna, Venkat and Bedi, have been on the decline.

"We're considering the make up of the pitches, the length of boundaries and also the ball. Because Derek's the president of MCC this year, we're going to spend a good 12 months examining his fear that spin bowling is in deep decline. But it won't decline in the sub-continent," Lewis said.