Australia head coach Justin Langer on Wednesday said that it is interesting to see how many players are getting injured in the ongoing series against India and he added that the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year probably was not timed ideally for anyone.
In the ongoing series between India and Australia, both sides have been hampered by injures. Especially the visitors have seen the likes of KL Rahul, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja getting ruled out of the Test series.
"It is really interesting how many injuries there have been throughout this summer. We suffered through it during the white-ball series and India through the Test series. We will review this, but I cannot help think that the IPL this year probably was not ideal timing for anyone, certainly for such a big series like this," said Langer in a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
"I love IPL. I look at the IPL now like I used to look at county cricket for young players, you go and play county cricket and it helps the development enormously. I think it is the same with the IPL with our players, it helps their white-ball development. But the timing of it, probably was not ideal and I wonder if that is having an impact on the injuries we are seeing for both teams throughout this summer," he added.
The IPL was set to be played in March-April 2020, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It then went ahead in the UAE from September-November, right before the series between India and Australia.
In the white-ball leg between India and Australia, the hosts saw David Warner getting injured and he ended up missing the first two Tests.
Batting out 258 balls with a fierce home team throwing everything it had up its sleeves is no mean feat. But the Indian duo of Vihari and R Ashwin stood ground and managed to do just that as they eked out a draw in what was nothing short of an action-packed fifth day of the third Test.
India and Australia will lock horns in the fourth and final Test at the Gabba, Brisbane, beginning December 15. The hosts had won the first Test, while visitors came back strongly in the second Test, and currently, the series stands level at 1-1.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
