After India’s defeat in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, several former cricketers including Ricky Ponting claimed that the Indian cricketers might have been tired due to the IPL 2023 season.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri, however, has refused to blame IPL for India’s loss, while also saying that several Indian cricketers have gone on to taste success after they played in IPL, which provided them the platform to showcase their skills.
Shastri also added that the Indian team had enough time to prepare for the WTC final, with one week’s time between the the end of IPL and the faceoff between India and Australia in England.
Experts argue that Australian players arrived early in England, which helped them acclimatise to the conditions better, however, the legendary Indian allrounder has rubbished those claims, highlighting that the Rohit Sharma-led side simply had to adjust to the playing conditions.
“From what I believe, Australia landed in England on the 30th, played golf on the 31st, then had 3-4 days of practice and played the WTC final. That’s it. So all this talk of reaching early and acclimatizing is b***t,” Shastri told The Week.
“It’s more about understanding what the conditions demand in England and practice towards it,” he added.
The 61-year-old pointed out that IPL wasn’t any ‘disturbance’, instead, Indian cricket has reached greater heights because of the lucrative league.
“I don’t think IPL is one bit a disturbance. If Indian cricket is where it is today, you should thank the IPL. You have to thank the IPL because it has produced players who went from playing IPL to becoming regulars in Test cricket,” said Shastri.
He continued, “It’s the goose that lays the golden egg. So never point at the goose. See how more eggs can be laid.”
After the defeat to Australia, Rohit and Co. got a well-deserved rest of nearly a month, and their next assignment will be up against the West Indies.
India will be playing in a two-match Test series, a 3-match ODI series and a five-match T20I series starting from July 12 onwards against West Indies.
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