With the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 over, Pakistan’s former cricketer Wasim Akram playfully remarked that now the Indian cricket team won’t have the excuse of being tired for the upcoming major tournament.
The IPL final between KKR and SRH didn’t feature any Indian players who will be going to the T20 World Cup in the United States and West Indies starting June 1, except for Rinku Singh from KKR, who is only a reserve.
Speaking to a sports-based platform, Akram joked, “At least this time, Indian players won’t be able to say they’re tired during the big event.”
He added, “They were smart, thinking ahead about the World Cup and focusing on that instead of the IPL final. This could actually be good for India.”
Akram noted that he had previously been worried about the players being tired, but he now thinks they’ll manage fine with their high fitness levels. He mentioned that the players would have a couple of practice matches in America, and since it’s T20, they should recover well.
The first group of Indian players, including captain Rohit Sharma, who didn’t play in the IPL playoffs, left for the USA on Saturday evening. This group includes Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, and Shubman Gill.