The former Indian coach Ravi Shastri reckons that people can criticize IPL however much they want, but the reality is that IPL is the product that is responsible for keeping the other formats going because of the financial gains it brings to the board.
According to Ravi Shastri, for BCCI to spend a lot of money on domestic cricket and at the grassroot level, IPL is extremely vital because it gives them the finances to enhance their system.
Recently, IPL has been criticized for India’s poor show in the T20 World Cup 2021 as some people thought the Indian players were just too tired after the England tour and playing in the IPL immediately after that didn’t help them as they went into the T20 World Cup completely exhausted.
Ravi Shastri believes bubble is the reason Indian players are exhausted, not IPL
Ravi Shastri stresses the fact that it’s not just because of the IPL that the players are exhausted, but it’s actually because of the way cricket is being all around the world these days. The players have to live in a bubble where they are very restricted and it’s not great over a long period of time.
The Indian cricket team has been in the bubble most of the time since cricket restarted after the pandemic, not just in the IPL, but wherever they have played bilateral series as well. It was not the case in the pre-pandemic era.
“IPL is extremely important. I don’t care what people think. IPL is the cash cow for your other formats to survive. You have got to get that in place,” Shastri said while talking to NDTV.
Shastri reckons that all the Indian players will need some rest going forward in rotation. The Indian test and ODI captain Virat Kohli has already been rested for the T20I series against New Zealand, and the new T20I captain Rohit Sharma will be rested for the test series that will follow after the T20I series.
