DUBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Sandeep Warrier has said that the Indian Premier League (IPL) helps in providing the Indian domestic players an exposure to execute their skills better in crunch situations.
The IPL 2020 is slated to be played from September 19-November 10 in the UAE across three venues --Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah.
"The main thing that we learn from each of them is how they treat the game. The way our Indian international players like Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa or Shubman Gill prepare and treat the game, it's way different from what we see in domestic cricket. So, I think it's just the mindset that you can get from IPL or by playing a level higher than domestic cricket," the official website of KKR quoted Warrier as saying.
"That's all. Basically, it's figuring out how confident they are in executing their skills. If you are a domestic player, you may just hold yourself back and not be sure what you are doing. But one level up, even though they are not 100 percent sure, they will just go and execute it. This is the main difference I found," he added.
When asked as to how he deals with the gruelling scheduling of the IPL, Warrier replied: "I played IPL after spending 55 matches (on the bench). So, for me it was not much of a pressure as I knew if I could execute my plans, I would be successful. And if I failed to execute, I needed to work more. That's all that I was thinking. So, last year was not much of a pressure as no one was expecting anything out of me. Let's see how it goes this year."
Warrier was picked by the KKR think-tank as a replacement for Kamlesh Nagarkoti during the 2019 season. He played just three matches for the side in the 2019 edition, managing to take two wickets.
However, the KKR lineup decided to retain the pacer for the 2020 edition of the tournament.
Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will lock horns in the IPL 2020 opener on September 19 in Abu Dhabi. KKR will face Mumbai Indians in their opening match of the tournament on September 23.