Viv Richards and Carl Hooper demand 'apology' from Brian Lara for 'Hurtful', 'False' Book Fiasco

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West Indies and cricket legend Brian Lara has landed himself in trouble with a couple of his former teammates after the release of his book.

Brian Lara recently released his book 'Lara: The England Chronicles', which has garnered negative attention from two former West Indies legends for 'gross misinterpretations' and 'false claims'.

Two West Indies legends, Sir Viv Richards and Carl Hooper released a joint statement on Sunday (July 21) accusing Lara of publishing false information and demanding an apology from the Calypso King.

"Sir Vivian Richards and Mr. Carl Hooper are deeply disheartened by the gross misrepresentations made about them in Mr. Brian Lara's recently released book. The allegations presented not only distort the reality of their relationship but also impugn their characters in an unjust and harmful manner," a joint statement from Carl Hooper and Viv Richards read.

The reason for their disgust is a part of the book by Lara where he mentioned that Viv Richards' tone was intimidating and was such strong that former West Indies captain Carl Hooper used to cry once a week. The book mentioned that Lara was never intimidated by Viv, but wrote that Hooper used to shy away from Richards for his nature.

The Book Extract

"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. Me, 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. Carl? I know for a fact that Carl shied away from Viv Richards."

But Carl Hooper has claimed that Richards never caused any emotional distress to him and labelled Lara's claim as 'categorically false', 'baseless' and 'deeply hurtful'.

"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 -- an assertion that is not only baseless but also deeply hurtful to both parties.

"Sir Vivian, as Mr. Hooper's first captain, has never caused emotional distress to Mr. Hooper. On the contrary, he has always acted as an encouraging mentor and provided unwavering support. Their nearly 40-year relationship has been founded on mutual respect and camaraderie. The misrepresentation of their interactions in Mr. Lara's book is a grave disservice to the truth and has caused undue distress to both parties and their families," the statement added.

The duo also accused Lara of garnering profit and advertising his book with lies and demanded an apology.

"We demand that Mr. Lara immediately issues a public retraction of these false claims and offer a sincere apology for the harm caused. It is crucial for the integrity of public discourse and their personal and professional lives that the truth is set right," the statement concluded.

Lara and Richards were teammates once in the former's career. On the other hand, both Lara and Cooper played together for a long time for West Indies and captained each other in the national team.