Carl and Viv issued joint statement

Carl and Viv demand retraction of statement

Viv’s tone of voice is intimidating: Brian

Former West Indian batsman Sir Vivian Richards and former West Indian all rounder Carl Hoopers have denied allegations levied by former West Indian batsman Brian Lara about Sir Vivian Richards being harsh towards Carl Hoopers during the early stages of his career. They issued a joint statement in this regard. “The allegations presented not only distort the reality of their relationship but also impugn their characters in an unjust and harmful manner. The claim that Sir Vivian was aggressive towards Mr. Hooper and made him cry once a week is categorically false. Such descriptions paint Sir Vivian as a perpetrator of emotional abuse – and assertion that is not only baseless but also deeply hurtful to both parties. We demand that Mr. Lara immediately issues a public retraction of these false claims and offers a sincere apology for the harm caused,” the statement mentioned. 

Also Read: Brian Lara highlights Viv Richards’ role in Carl Hooper not reaching his potential 

The controversy erupted after portions of Brian Lara’s book titled ‘Lara: The England Chronicles’ characterised Carl Hooper as being more talented than Sachin himself. Lara alleged that the nature of interaction between Vivian Richards and Carl Hoopers hampered his prospects of achieving his potential. “Viv used to make me cry every three weeks, but he would make Carl cry once a week. Viv’s tone of voice is intimidating and if you’re not strong enough, you can take that personally and be affected by it. I was never really affected by it. In a way I welcomed it, because I was so much under his arm that I knew abuse was coming and I was a strong personality. I know for a fact that Carl shied away from Viv Richards,” the book highlighted.