Johannesburg, September 11:

West Indies cricket legend Brian Lara has come out in support of the forthcoming Indian Cricket League (ICL) chaired by Kapil Dev, which may become a rival to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

“I think the most important thing is that their motives are very clean and clear — they want to improve cricket and the standards of professional cricket in India, and that’s good enough for me,” Lara said. So far, Lara is the biggest name to have signed up for ICL.

“I think there’s room for a lot of players in the market and I’ll be there to support them.” Lara was here to present the International Cricket Council (ICC) Captain of the Year Award to Ricky Ponting of Australia at the annual ICC Awards, a day before the start of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup. Conceding that West Indies had largely not had a good innings in recent years, Lara said there were some great changes on the cards for the team, and that they could spring a few surprises.