IPL will set the body and momentum perfectly for Australia tour, claims Mohammed Shami
Shami in action during an IPL match
|bcci
Mohammed Shami is of the opinion that the upcoming Indian Premier League will work as a great practice ground for the tour Down Under which is scheduled towards the backend of the year. He has also added that everyone is happy that the IPL is finally going ahead and things are falling in place.
With less than a week to go for the Indian Premier League to begin, there has been a lot of buzz and anticipation on offer, with the players adding the final touch to their preparations after months of being locked down at their home. To go with that, there is a huge tour of Australia coming up, just after the IPL, adds to the buzz and Mohammed Shami feels that this can act as a momentum-building exercise for the tour.
"It would be great that the Australia-bound players are playing IPL. It will set the body and momentum perfectly by then. I feel it's better that we are playing the IPL before a big series. Apart from the IPL, everyone is also focused on that tour. There is a lot of talk about that series. We will have a good contest,” Shami told PTI.
This will be the first cricketing assignment for virtually every India cricketer since March when cricket was suspended in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. It is natural that the players are excited to be in the right frame of mind to play cricket again and Shami is no different.
"It has been a long time since we played cricket. Everyone is happy like kids in a candy store after getting back to the sport they love the most. We had a practice match on Thursday, I didn't face any issues. Everyone is getting back to rhythm. I didn't feel much difference [as I was bowling at my farmhouse]."
As the tournament will be played only across three venues in the UAE, the internal flight issue has been dissolved with players staying at one single base for the entirety of the IPL. Apart from the to and fro bus journey across three cities, there has been no bigger challenge for the players and Shami is happy for that.
"Yes, there're back-to-back matches, training, travelling, that's a bit of headache. But it's a short format, short matches, physically there should not be any workload issue. This time, there won't be much travelling. You will have to travel just about for two hours by bus [when there is a match in Abu Dhabi]," the Kings XI Punjab pacer added.
