Australian national team’s head coach, Justin Langer is of the opinion that the IPL is a wonderful opportunity for the preparation of the T-20 World Cup. However, considering the current circumstances, it shouldn’t come at the cost of public safety.
“Because with the T20 World Cup coming up, there’s no better grounding, no better practice, no better tournament for them to get ready for that”, Langer said.
He further added, “But obviously things have changed a lot. The health of not only our individual players but also our country and India as a whole is paramount here”.
With the rising concerns over the growing number of cases of COVID-19, the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been put on the back burner by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)until 15th April while they are monitoring the situations and keeping the final decision on conducting the league pending, giving prime importance to the public health. The tournament was set to kick off on 29 March in Mumbai.
According to their coach, the Aussie cricketers were all geared up for the Indian league but traveling policies all across the world and deteriorating conditions of the effects of coronavirus in the Indian Sub-continent have made it very unlikely to be staged. The Australian government itself upgraded its travel advisory to “level 4” which bans its citizens from traveling outside the country.
Some Australian players contracted to play in the IPL include Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Pat Cummins became the most expensive player to be contracted in the auction of this season of IPL, by the Kolkata Knight Riders team.
Australia’s last tour was in South Africa, for which Langer seems to be quite satisfied with their performance and believes he they have a settled team and does not need many changes to it.
The ICC has decided to go ahead with the T20 World Cup as planned later this year, in which Australia would be starting off their game versus Pakistan.
