They are absolutely fine playing IPL cricket – Ravi Shastri on whether Indian players should play in other T20 leagues

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri feels Indian players should stick to playing in the IPL. After India was destroyed in the semi-final clash of the T20 World Cup by England by 10 wickets, questions were raised if not playing in other T20 leagues is leading to the downfall of Indian cricket in the shortest format of the game.

England players ply their trade in the Big Bash League and they were able to make the most of the Australian conditions in the T20 World Cup. However, as Indian players are not allowed to play in T20 leagues across the globe, they lacked experience of playing in Australian conditions.

In fact, India head coach Rahul Dravid was asked the same question in the press conference and he feels that if Indian players go on to play in the other leagues, India’s domestic tournaments will suffer.

Ravi Shastri said in the press conference, “There is enough domestic cricket for all these players to get absorbed in the system and get an opportunity. Plus, you get these India A tours. You get a lot of these other tours when at one given time you might have two Indian teams playing in the future.

“They are absolutely fine playing IPL cricket and focusing on domestic cricket. We need them to play domestic cricket in India as well.”

On the other hand, former Indian fast bowler Zaheer Khan had similar thoughts that Indian players should only play in the IPL. BCCI mostly organizes shadow tours with the India A team, which also helps the young players in acclimatizing to foreign conditions.

“You have seen with BCCI, with their shadow tours, I think the process is well in place. I don’t see any other reason right now for players to go and play in a particular tournament. What you have right now – domestic cricket – is also a robust structure. Why depend on others? We have more than enough means for producing good players.

“You look at our bench strength as well. That’s a classic example of seeing things. You can play virtually three line-ups and they will be able to compete at any level. We should focus on our country rather than looking outside.”

India will take on New Zealand in the first T20I at Wellington on Friday.