IPL 2020 | IPL will provide challenging cricket ahead of India- Australia series, reckons Ian Chappell
Ian Chappell has reckoned that the players of India and Australia will be able to have some challenging practice from the IPL in the lead up to the bilateral series in December. To prove his point, he gave the example of Ravi Bopara who scored 2 consecutive hundreds in Tests after a stint in IPL.
Cricket has resumed after the COVID pause, but the current cricketing setup is a lot different from anything experienced in the past as the players have to make do with limited practice and strict guidelines. This puts even more pressure on players, who are testing out their skills after several months. To add to that hardly any practice before playing competitive cricket results in rusty players on the field.
From the Indian players' perspective, they will be getting on the field for the first time after the break, in IPL 2020, slated to begin from September 19, followed by a tough Australia tour. Indian players will fly directly to Australia after the IPL concludes on November 10 for the high-profile tour which is likely to begin with a T20 series followed by four Tests and ODIs.
Former Australian cricketer Ian Chappell opined that the high-profile cash-rich event in UAE would be a blessing in disguise for the Indians and the Australians as they will be able to get practice before the encounter in December.
”One thing is certain: where there’s a will, there’s a way, and the better players are dedicated to finding a solution,” Chappell wrote in a column for ESPNcricinfo.com.
“In case of Indian players, and some of the Australians, they will at least have some challenging IPL cricket in the lead-up to the December series.”
Chappell admitted that the IPL may not seem like ideal preparation for a tough Test series in Australia but he recalled the thoughts of former England batsman Ravi Bopara in 2009 after he scored two back-to-back hundreds.
“After a stint in the IPL, Bopara was asked on return to England if this was appropriate preparation for a Test match. He responded by saying that ‘looking to score at every opportunity gets your feet moving positively’. He proved his point emphatically by scoring back-to-back centuries against West Indies.”