The truncated portion of the Indian Premier League will be played right before the ICC World T20 and the South Africa cricket coach Mark Boucher is banking on players who are set to play in the marquee event.
He said that the IPL-bound South African players will gather a “bit of information” on the nature of pitches that may be there during the T20 World Cup while playing for their respective franchise in the IPL.
He also said that the team has not peaked yet and hence the team management has spoken to players over their preparation and using their IPL experience to “peak at the right time”.
"We've spoken to the guys going to the IPL. They need to stay quite disciplined and realise we want to peak at the right time as a unit. They'll be picking up bits of information about playing in those conditions that will really get them ready for a big tournament and if they manage themselves well and get some good time in the nets and get used to facilities it will stand us in good stead. It will be a great experience as long as guys look after themselves and peak at the right time,” Boucher said after winning the series 3-0 against Sri Lanka.
South Africa have tasted success in the shortest format at the international stage in the recent past as they have defeated West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka, but Boucher said that Proteas are still not a “finished product”. However, he expressed optimism that the players are learning from their mistakes and the team is on its path of growth leading up to the ICC World T20.
"This team realised that we are definitely not the finished product, so there's a lot of things we speak about. We had a good chat about the lessons we've learnt and where we want to go as a team. We tied the record for the most T20 wins by a South African team. That was one of the records that we were playing for. We understand that going into a World Cup each game is as important as the others and this becomes a habit. This is just part of the growth of the team,” Boucher added.
The South African players who are not part of the IPL 2021 will head back home to play T20 cricket in the domestic circuit and it should augur well for the players before the big global event.