BENGALURU: The IPL, which started on September 19 in the UAE, also marked the return of Indian players in competitive action. If the national team players were last involved in the tour of New Zealand from January to March, Ranji Trophy final (domestic) was played mid March. Staying away from the game —due to the Covid-19 situation —must have been challenging at both the mental and physical level for cricketers, who are attuned to competitive matches.
In that aspect, one can deem players from England a tad lucky. The Englishmen hosted West Indies, Pakistan and Australia in a bio-secure environment. And 21 of these players have come into the IPL with some valuable match practice under their belt. Even the Caribbean Premier League, which had a number of IPL players, finished before the cash-rich league started.
On the contrary, the Indian players have only had net sessions. At best, they have had three weeks of training. Teams also understood the need for creating match-like situations and played some practice games too. Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Aaron Finch, who was part of the T20I and ODI series against England, to a certain extent agrees about the advantage, but believes adjustment holds the key.
“Coming from competitive cricket has a little bit of an advantage, sometimes, like (playing in) the England-Australia series, CPL. But once you get into the environment, it is about adapting to the conditions. Regardless of what has happened, you have to adjust it out in the middle,” said Finch.
One understands what Finch means by conditions. Australia and England players flew directly from Manchester to UAE after the limited overs series, where the ball came onto the bat nicely. There was something for the pacers too, but things will be a bit different in the IPL.
“The dew is going to play an important part. As the tournament goes on and there are a lot of games played on the same wickets, over and over, the wicket will become slower and dew will be even more of a factor. But, you cannot use that as an excuse, you have to play your best,” he noted.