Chris Cairns

Mumbai: Inspired by Steve Waugh’s charity work, particularly at Udayan in Calcutta, former New Zealand (one-day) captain and one of the finest allrounders of the present era, Chris Cairns, is launching The Chris Cairns Foundation here on Wednesday.

“Essentially, it’s an initiative for the education of underprivileged children. The launch (sponsored by Deutsche Bank) is in Mumbai, but we intend working in other Indian cities as also back in New Zealand,” Cairns told The Telegraph.

For starters, the Foundation has tied-up with ‘Pratham’, an NGO.

Cairns, who dropped in at the Wankhede on Monday afternoon, wished Sourav Ganguly “good luck” and said the former India captain “must” leave the sport on his terms alone.

“I’ve been following Indian cricket and know Sourav is still playing domestic matches... Obviously, he wants to make a comeback and good luck to him... My advice is that he must go out on his terms, not as a result of a decision taken by somebody else... I regard Sourav highly and he has served India very well,” he remarked.

Cairns added: “I don’t have an insider’s view to the spat between Sourav and Greg Chappell, but everybody knows both are such strong individuals... I hear, though, some politics also crept in...” Incidentally, his father (Lance) and Chappell were contemporaries.

Citing his example, Cairns pointed out: “I got dropped from the tour of South Africa late last year, but didn’t call it a day... I played one of the ODIs versus Sri Lanka at home (Napier) and, then, a Twenty20 match... I finished off there... Except, perhaps, for a bit of County cricket, I’m through with the sport.”

Till not too long ago, the 35-year-old Cairns had been planning to quit after the 2007 World Cup. He retired from Tests in the summer of 2004.

Moving away from Sourav, he said England’s performance in the ongoing Test came as a surprise. “I didn’t expect India to be under such pressure after taking a a 1-0 lead (Mohali)... That India chose five specialist bowlers has also surprised me...”

In Cairns’ opinion, India have an “excellent” chance of winning their first Test series in the West Indies in 35 years: “Look, the West Indies have become weak... And, so, you’ll have an excellent chance there later this year.”

Saying he was “impressed” with Irfan Pathan’s development as an allrounder, Cairns asked “fans” to be patient. “You’ve got to give him four years (more) to peak... He’s on the right path and should be counted as a full-fledged allrounder.”

Asked whether the definition of allrounders needed to be amended, to include the Adam Gilchrists and Mahendra Singh Dhonis, Cairns laughed: “Why not? So many things change... Even a conventional definition can... I don’t have a problem.”

Cairns remarked he was “pleased” with the way New Zealand have been playing. “The return of Shane Bond has made a big difference... I’m happy for the guys and while the West Indies have become weak, it was nice to thrash them by ten wickets in the Wellington Test today.”

Barring injuries (and, to a much lesser extent, a spat with Glenn Turner in the mid-Nineties) Cairns would have played a lot more than 62 Tests (3,319 runs and 218 wickets) and 214 ODIs (4,950 runs and 201 wickets).