T20 World Cup 2021: "Don't see issue with getting into World Cup after IPL" - Vikram Rathour
India batting coach Vikram Rathour waved away concerns over the Indian Premier League (IPL) having an effect on the team's preparation for the 2021 T20 World Cup.
The Indian players have been on a hectic schedule, which included the second half of IPL 2021, which finished just four days before the start of the T20 World Cup.
Speaking at a press conference on whether the IPL is ideal preparation ahead of the T20 World Cup, Rathour said:
"Any preparation is good preparation, I think. IPL does provide you with the platform where you compete against the top cricketers all around the world. So definitely it is a good platform to practice. I don’t see an issue there with us getting into the World Cup after playing IPL. I thought players got loads of games, they could work on their games."
India lacked execution, no fault in preparation: Vikram Rathour
Vikram Rathour said that India's poor performances so far in the T20 World Cup have been due to poor execution and not because there was any shortcoming in their preparation for the marquee event.
Rathour said in the presser:
"What happened in the past two games I think is that we haven’t been able to execute our plans the way we wanted to and that has been our issue, and not the preparation."
In their first two matches, India suffered crushing defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand.
Shaheen Shah, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam starred in a 10-wicket victory for Pakistan against India.
Against New Zealand, the batting failed miserably with Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner spinning a web around India. Restricted to 110/7, India were eventually beaten by eight wickets.
Progress from the Super 12 round to the semi-finals is now a difficult progress, and India will need other results to go their way on top of winning their remaining matches.
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