The T20 World Cup is around the corner. Fans are all excited for the tournament. Within less than a week of IPL’s ending, the tournament will be live. The biggest T20 league has become an exciting place to rehearse before stepping into the T20 World Cup. But former Indian bowlers Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh talked about the smaller gap between the IPL 2024 and the T20 World Cup. he urged for a few more warm-up games. But former Indian captain Anil Kumble opposed it and addressed this as a better stage for the preparation.
Harbhajan Singh on the IPL Schedule:
Unlike all the years, the Indian Premier League came back to make the Indian summer more interesting. As the T20 World Cup is scheduled to start in June, the IPL was arranged a bit early. All the players are taking part in this tournament to keep the thought of the World Cup preparation in mind. The IPL final is scheduled on May 26 and T20 World will start from June 2. Before the group stage end, the England players flew back to home to play their last series before the T20 World Cup against Pakistan.
Harbhajan suggested that BCCI could have done something similar, expressing frustration over the IPL’s schedule. The former bowler said, “I think with this IPL scheduling, it is so difficult to have everyone together to play a few matches. But yes, we have two games in America before the tournament starts.”
Later he added, “Yes, I believe it would have been better for them to have 4-5 games, you know collectively playing against some top team like England or Australia in America, just to get used to those conditions. But that doesn’t seem to be happening. But now, whatever small window we have, those two games, we have to make the best use of it. Going forward, it is a great suggestion. When you are playing a tournament like the World Cup or WTC, the team should play together for 10-15 days, it will be better.”
Anil Kumble’s View:
After Harbhajan Singh shared his view, former Indian captain Anil Kumble has shared a different view on that. Kumble believes that 14-17 IPL matches provide adequate preparation for the Indian players for the T20 World Cup. he said, “With regard to the Indian players, people who are not part of the playoffs will certainly be going early, and the guys who will be playing or who will be part of the playoffs will leave immediately after the IPL. So I don’t see any reason why the preparation should be different.”
Furtherly, he added, “I don’t think there’s any issue with that. You can’t get a better sort of preparation for the World Cup than playing in an IPL where you played either 14 matches or 16 or 17. So, in that sense, you’ve prepared really well in this tournament in terms of any situation and under pressure you played. So it’s a good sort of understanding of where your game is and going into the World Cup.”
On England Player’s Departure:
As different players from different countries are taking part in the IPL 2024, the English players already departed to their country. Before stepping into the T20 World Cup, England will play a T20 series against Pakistan. For the national duty, they departed. While talking about this matter, Kumble said, “People knew that they would be leaving even before the start of the IPL. So, I guess as franchises, they sort of have those backups, and you don’t have a choice. I mean, the World Cup is coming up and some of the teams will certainly look to have their preparation.”
Later he added, “And that’s something that each team or each country has their own approach to preparing for a big event. And England chose to pull out their players. I guess every franchise knew that these players won’t be available towards the back end of the tournament, so I don’t think there’s any issue with that.”
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