His Royal Highness Tunku Imran Ibni Tuanku Ja'afar is the President of the Malaysian Cricket Association. He is on a visit to Mumbai with the Malaysian Under-15 team in association with Petra foundation and MID- DAY. His Highness was instrumental in introducing the game as a sport in the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in 1998. He has been a pioneer in the revival of the game in Malaysia over the last decade. In an exclusive interview with CricInfo, he talked about his plans to achieve Test status for Malaysia by 2020.

Q. How was your introduction to the game of cricket?

A. I went to school at the Kings School, Canterbury, the same school that David Gower, the former England captain, went to. We were school mates. I was eight years old and I think it was a compulsory sport in the summers there. I took it up and enjoyed it. Actually I played a lot of sports in school besides cricket as sports is in my blood.

Q. When was cricket introduced in Malaysia?

A. Malaysia was under the British for many years. We had a very good standard of cricket in the 50's and 60's, mainly due to the large Indian community. We were equal to Sri Lanka. We even beat Bangladesh in the ICC Trophy. We even had one Test player of Malaysian origin. In 1932, Lal Singh, a Malay boy was identified as a good talent by the Maharaja of Patiala and was invited to India for trials. He was selected and played the first Test in England at Lord's in 1932. Recently, Lal Singh was recognised as the sportsman of the millenium by the media.

Q. Why has Malaysia not produced more good cricketers?

A. Cricket declined in the 70's in terms of importance and initiative. It would have probably disappeared all together had it not been for me and my committee. So I revived the game in Malaysia.

Q. How does the climatic changes influence the game?

A. Kuala Lumpur has a very good climate throughout the year. It is hot at times but not more than 33 degrees. The moisture and humidity is there, but you get acclimatised to it. The rain does not play a major part as it rains heavily only in the monsoons. Sometimes we do have rain at 4 pm, but then by that time most of the game is played as it starts at 9 in the morning. Seldom is a match washed out. It may end early but a match has never been delayed due to rain.

Q. What is the infrastructure like at the junior level?

A. We have a council of all the states that meets on a quarterly basis. The onus of the development programme is on the states. We try and provide them with funds and facilities. We have also made a very competitive structure for the states, where they compete in the U-12 and U-15 categories. There are home and away games in the inter state matches so that the teams get to play in each other's states. This creates a healthy rivalry between the states for their own pride and the benefits are for the national team. The incentive that the national team enjoys is that they get to tour places like Mumbai and learn from the experience.

Q. What is the influence of the Indian community on cricket in Malaysia?

A. It's really the parents and grandparents of the Indian children who have seen the game and are keen on it. The children also naturally drift towards the game. With India and Pakistan as close neighbours, a lot of cricket is also seen on television which also promotes the game.

Q. How is the response from the Malaysian and Chinese communities?

A. For them it's a new game. That's where our marketing division comes in to play to promote the game to these communities. We have many role models who are Malay and Chinese. In fact, the majority of this current team is Malay unlike the last team that had a lot of boys of Indian origin. It is a remarkable achievement and over the next few years, we will have a new race of cricketers who are Malays, and will turn out to be very fine cricketers.

Q. How popular is cricket as compared to badminton and squash in Malaysia?

A. Cricket as a game is much bigger and a global game as compared to badminton and squash. What we need to do is to get it to the threshold and then it will fend for itself. That's what we need to do to make cricket a more recognised sport. I think there is a lot of opportunity to make cricket a major game in Malaysia.

Q. What are your plans in terms of foreign coaches?

A. We are looking at anyone who can come to Malaysia for coaching. I talked to Geoff Marsh, Dennis Lillee and Dilip Vengsarkar. Vengsarkar has been helping the boys and doing a great job for us at his academy. My partner at the Petra Foundation, Dr. Vinod Shekhra has invited Vengsarkar to coach the boys in Malaysia. We are looking at as many foreigners to come to Malaysia for coaching. We can't afford to pay them as much as India can but we can give them a good time so much so they would love to come back again.

Q. What plans do you have of reviving the Super Eight tournament?

A. I think we can do that along with a triangular series we are organising. We are very keen to do that this season. We plan to fit it in a series in June/July 2001 as at that time only England will be playing cricket and there will be two nations touring them. So it leaves seven out of the ten Test playing nations who can participate in that period.

Q. What is your approach towards the development of cricket in neighbouring countries like Hong Kong and Singapore?

A. We have the Tunku Jaffer series for the last ten years that I started in my father's name. We play the U-13, U-15, U-19 and the senior team matches. This year we completed a Grand Slam as we won all the categories. We do want these nations to grow with us, there is no point in rushing ahead and leaving them behind. A strong Hong Kong team and a strong Singapore team will be very good for Malaysian cricket as it will give more competition in the region.

Q. What are your hopes from India?

A. I wish India does the good work that it is doing in terms of leading the Asian countries in terms of cricket. The recent academy in Bangalore and the one coming up in Madras are signs which show that Indian domestic cricket is moving towards better times. I hope that India and Pakistan can play a series in Malaysia as a neutral ground which will be very beneficial for Malaysian cricket. I just like to say give us a chance to host an Indian series in Malaysia.

© CricInfo