T20 World Cup 2022: Will the lack of Big Bash League experience be a disadvantage for India?
The ICC T20I Cricket World Cup has come to Australia and will start in almost three weeks. Teams have begun strategizing, players have started training, and the pitch has started getting shaped for the mega-tournament
Big BashMany players will feel comfortable and familiar with playing in Australia, and all the credit goes to Australia's Big Bash League. The very own T20 league of Australia gets a great pool of talent from countries like England, West Indies, South Africa, and Australia.
But, BBL never saw an Indian talent playing in their league, which feels like a big downside for team India.
Familiarity with players who played BBL
BCCI, to keep the Indian Premier League the most celebrated league, doesn't give NOC to its players to play other cricket leagues around the globe. Thus, Indian players, no matter how experienced, have only played most of their competitive T20 games in India.
Over the last few series, the cricket world has seen a lost home ground benefit to the team which hosts such a competitive cricket league. Australia defeated India, and England defeated Pakistan in the first T20I match of their ongoing series. Both teams capitalized on their vast experience playing IPL and PSL, respectively.
On similar grounds, many players have a great experience playing in BBL. Alex Hales, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Rashid Khan, Tim David, Harry Brooks, Reece Topley, and Haris Rauf.
All these players have played many games on the Australian grounds and understand the pitch, conditions, and boundary length very well. They know what works here and what could come out of a pitch during specific situations of games.
Lack of T20I experience with India bowlers in Australia
This experience is a direct benefit to the teams like Australia and England. But India, on the other hand, will be entering new territory.
In the bowling squad of India, there is not much experience with Australian conditions for T20I, which is one of the major concerns for India looking at their current performance.
India's most experienced bowling combination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Ravichandran Ashwin has played just 3, 3 and 5 T20I games in Australia, respectively.
Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, and Axar Patel will play for the first time in Australia.
Only Jasprit Bumrah has played the most number of T20I games in Australia, that is, six.
India's batting will rely on their most experienced players.
Virat Kohli (11) has played the most T20I games in Australia, followed by skipper Rohit Sharma with nine games. After him, there is not much experience in the batting line-up playing T20I in Australia.
Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul have played six games, while Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant have played 4 and 3 games, respectively. India's new Mr 360, Suryakumar Yadav, will also play his first T20I on bouncy and fast Australian pitches.
Lack of experience - A downside?
India's cricket team has always believed in playing good cricket irrespective of other variables, and they'll be entering Australia with the same intention. Maybe India won't feel the downside of less experience in Australia, but the other teams will definitely benefit from their familiarity with the conditions.