VVS Laxman Says Quality of IPL Won't Dip Amid This Situation
Image : Collected
|| Desk Report ||
Former batting great and Sunrisers Hyderabad's batting mentor VVS Laxman has said that the quality of cricket will not dip even if the games of the upcoming IPL takes place in front of an empty stadium due to the global pandemic COVID-19. The 2020 edition of the cash-rich T20 league has shifted to the UAE from India amid this time and it will be played across the three venues of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah from September 19 to November 10.
"I can assure all the fans of the game that they will really enjoy the competition even though there won't be any crowd or any spectators on the ground," VVS Laxman said in a video released by the franchise. "Don't ever think that the energy or the quality of cricket will come down."
However, he shared his thoughts about the nature of pitches that will be offered in the UAE.
He added, "Probably the wickets may be on the slower side but we have to just wait and see because we may just be surprised with the efforts put in by the ground staff. The outfield will be fantastic but the wickets are something that I hope will be well taken care of by the ground staff."
Indian players of the Hyderabad-based franchise landed in the city on Sunday. The Sunrisers, along with the Delhi Capitals, were the last of the eight IPL teams to reach the UAE.
Laxman said that the management had decided to select youngsters for the middle-order and they have picked up Priyam Garg, Virat Singh and B Sandeep a few.
"In the auction, it was a very intentional effort to have the youngsters. While they are youngsters, they are all the most prolific performers in domestic cricket. When you see the composition of our team, we had a lot of experienced players from both overseas and India. But when we look at the domestic players, we (were) required to strengthen our batting, especially our middle-order batting. So we went with the performer in the last couple of seasons," he concluded.
