The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the right kind of tournament that allows players to get into the groove nicely, an absolute must before they hit the Australian shores for two and half months, feels Indian team’s premier speedster Mohammed Shami.
The Australia-bound India players will fly directly after the IPL concludes on November 10 for the much-anticipated tour which is likely to begin with a T20 series followed by four Tests and ODIs.
“It would be great that the Australia-bound players are playing IPL. It will set the body and momentum perfectly by then,” the Kings XI pace spearhead said.
India under Virat Kohli achieved the historic feat of winning in Australia for the first time in 2018-19 but the hosts did not have Steve Smith and David Warner back then because of their involvement in the ball tampering scandal.
The duo’s presence would make the series even more exciting and Shami said everyone is focused on the tour as well.
“I feel it’s better that we are playing IPL before a big series. Apart from IPL, everyone is also focused on that tour (Down Under). There is a lot of talk about that series. We will have a good contest.”
With the IPL shifted to the UAE, the tournament will be held across three venues of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, comprising 60 matches spread over 53 days.
Shami feels unlike in India where they have to fly all over the country for away matches, the IPL in UAE would be less hectic this time.
“Yes, there’re back to back matches, training, travelling that’s a bit of headache. But it’s a short format, short matches, physically there should not be any workload issue. This time, there won’t be much travelling. You will have to travel just about two hours by bus (when there is a match in Abu Dhabi).”