Notably, most of the Indian players were part of different franchises in the second phase of IPL 2021, which concluded on October 15 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Critics reckoned that players were busy in the cash-rich league and hence didn’t get time to prepare for the 2021 T20 World Cup.
However, former India opener Gautam Gambhir has a different take as he believe that blaming IPL for India’s poor show at the global showpiece event is senseless. Gambhir said whenever something wrong happens with Indian cricket, people start pointing fingers at IPL, which is completely wrong.
The cricketer-turned-politician opined it is better to accept that other teams are playing well and start learning from the mistakes rather than mixing IPL in the citicism. Gambhir spoke about the New Zealand game which India lost by eight wickets. The 40-year-old felt the Virat Kohli-led side looked nervous before the game, which had nothing to do with IPL.
“You can’t blame the IPL. If anything goes wrong with Indian cricket, everyone starts pointing fingers towards the IPL. This is wrong. Sometimes, you have to expect that 2-3 teams are playing better cricket than you. The earlier you accept that, the better it will be for you,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
“In the previous game against New Zealand, we weren’t brave enough, we were so nervous before the game. What has that got to do with IPL? It was similar in the 2019 World Cup semi-final as well. At that time, we had come to the World Cup after playing in the IPL as well,” he added.
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