Australia's coach Justin Langer has questioned the timing of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after both India and Australia have suffered multiple injury concerns during the on-going series between the two nations. India’s injury woes continued after Jasprit Bumrah was also ruled out of the fourth Test against Australia.
The IPL was held in Dubai during September-November. “It is really interesting how many injuries (it) has been throughout this summer. I can’t help and think that the IPL this year (2020)...probably wasn’t (having) ideal timing for anyone, certainly for such a big series like this,” Langer said at a virtual press conference.
Langer added that he “loves” the IPL but the timing of the tournament has certainly created some problems. “I love the IPL, I look at IPL now like I used to look at county cricket for our young players. They go and play county cricket and it helps them (in) their cricket development enormously, I think it is the same with the IPL, helps their white-ball development.
“But the timing of it…because of what happened with COVID…probably wasn’t ideal, and I just wonder whether that is having an impact on the injuries that we are seeing for both teams throughout the summer, so I’m sure they’ll review that,” said the Australian head coach.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, and R Ashwin were injured during the third Test. Jadeja and Vihari have already been ruled out of the last match while Jadeja is also likely to miss the first two Tests against England. Earlier, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, and Umesh Yadav were ruled out after sustaining individual injuries.
The fourth and final Test begins on January 15 in Brisbane with the series level at 1-1.
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