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'No doubt it's their best preparation': Ricky Ponting believes IPL 2021 will be beneficial to Australian players
Australian batting great Ricky Ponting has opined that taking part in the completion of IPL 2021 would definitely benefit the Australian players.
The focus of major international teams is now mainly on the upcoming T20 World Cup. The event, which is scheduled to begin in October, will take place in the UAE and Oman. Just before the T20 WC, the second half of IPL 2021 will also take place in UAE. Looking at the schedule, Australian batting great Ricky Ponting has opined that taking part in the completion of IPL would definitely benefit the Australian players.
The IPL will squeeze its remaining 76 games between September 19 and October 15 while the T20 World Cup will be held just after that from October 17 to November 14. Both tournaments will be held in the UAE.
"Those guys that haven't played for three or four months now, they need to get back into the groove of playing high-quality cricket against the best players in the world," Ponting was quoted by cricket.com.au as telling Australia Test captain Tim Paine in a conversation on SEN radio.
"No doubt it's their best preparation to be in those exact conditions, playing in probably the strongest domestic T20 tournament in the world," said Ponting, who will head to Dubai as head coach of IPL side Delhi Capitals.
Fast bowler Pat Cummins, who skipped the West Indies and Bangladesh tours to spend the time with his pregnant fiance, is not expected to return to the IPL with his first child due in the middle of the rescheduled tournament.
"For second half of this season it's going to be really tough to get over there," Cummins said in a vlog on his YouTube channel.
"We'll see how it plays out but at this stage it might be a bit too hard, but with the World Cup straight after that, I'm hoping to be good to go for that."
Australia captain Aaron Finch this week had surgery on his right knee to repair cartilage damage he suffered in the West Indies. While the surgery was a success, he faces a 10-week recovery period, which will leave him sidelined right up until Australia's opening match of the Super 12 stage of the World Cup.
Finch has previously said he believed a return to the IPL would be "hard to justify" for players who had skipped the winter tours citing the fatigue and toll of hotel quarantines and bio-secure bubbles.
(With inputs from PTI)
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