India’s former batter Robin Uthappa feels Indian players not taking part in other T20 leagues is costing the team in major ICC events. India last won a major ICC title back in 2013 when MS Dhoni led the team to glory in the Champions Trophy.
Since then India has been consistently qualifying for the knockout stages of the major events but hasn’t been able to go all the way.
Uthappa feels the overseas players have a lot of information about Indian players by rubbing shoulders with them in the IPL whereas the Indian players don’t have the same luxury as they don’t take part in foreign T20 leagues. Thus, Indian players are also not accustomed to playing in other country’s conditions.
“Well, yeah, I certainly think the exposure at the IPL and I think it is a trick that India misses out, especially in the ICC tournaments, because we don’t play any other leagues in any other part of the world. And I think yes, it does well to protect the IPL as an entity, but I think it costs us at the ICC level,” Uthappa said on Jio Cinema.
“And I think those are the advantages that the accomplished players have against our Indian bowlers when they play them in bilateral or they play against them in ICC tournament,” he added. “They have had so much exposure against them in the nets and playing against them in the IPL for years 3,4,5,6 years. So you already know what the bowler does, you already know what the batter does. So you have a lot of information.”
On the other hand, Uthappa slammed Hardik Pandya’s captaincy tactics after he didn’t give Yuzvendra Chahal his final over despite the leg-spinner taking two wickets in the 16th over of the innings in the run-chase of 153 runs. Akeal Hosein and Alzarri Joseph added 26 runs for the ninth wicket and got the home team over the line.
“I am just mind-blown by how when a guy gets you three wickets in an over essentially you don’t bring him back for another one and kind of close the game completely. The likes of Alzarri Joseph are not going to contend with the experience and class of a Yuzi Chahal. He knows how to bowl to these lower-order batsmen, he knows how to get them out,” Uthappa said.
“And Akeal Hosein is not gonna take him on, not at that point with three overs to go. He would have backed himself with two overs to go perhaps, not three overs to go. So, you knew there was an error in judgment there.”
The third T20I of the series will be played at the same venue of Providence Stadium, Guyana on Tuesday.
