Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri said in an interview that the Indian Premier League is a great platform for the players to prepare themselves for sports and also good for their health.
Former Indian team Head Coach Ravi Shastri said the Indian Premier League is of great importance for the overall health of the game in India, in an interview with NDTV sports.
Speaking about the T20 franchise league, Shastri said,
“I think the 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 and then earn the bucks, get it into the coffers, and then spread it around to different formats of the game, at the grassroots level, at domestic cricket level, to keep the game alive.”
Shastri talked about the Kohli’s taking a break from the T20I series and the first test game against Black Caps.
“In these times of Covid, which is unprecedented since the Second World War, I don’t think one individual can be on the road for the amount of time the Indian team is on the road. I think you need to be able to take a break. Not just Virat, everyone in the team at some time will need a break because they are humans,” he elaborated.
When asked about the Kohli’s stepping down from his captaincy role in the T20 format, Shastri said,
“It’s his own choice. There’s no one giving him a nudge. And he needs a break. I think he will come out twice the player after this break. When you are mentally fried up for two years, as these guys have been in the last 24 months — they have been in a bio bubble for the last six months — you need a break.”
Speaking about his resigned from the team India as a Head Coach, Shastri said,
“You should know when your sell-by date is up. Seven years is a long time to be sitting there and being judged with guns pointed in my direction. If I was 10 years younger, maybe I would have done it (for) two years longer. But the time is up and my mind was very clear in England itself that once this term is over, I will go, irrespective of what happens in the T20 World Cup.”
When asked about India’s poor performance in the T20 World Cup campaign, Shastri said,
“I don’t give excuses. We weren’t up to scratch. Pakistan was a good game; they played better than us, they beat us. (Against) New Zealand, we could have shown a little more daring, little more spunk and got out there a little more aggressive in our mindsets and action-wise.”
