IPL Is Scheduled To Start From Next Month Onwards:
VVS Laxman, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s beating coach, feels that empty stands won’t affect the standard of cricket in the 2020 IPL, but he’s a little wary of the existence of the pitches in the UAE. The Sunrisers, along with the Delhi Capitals, are the last of the eight IPL sides to join the UAE. All sides took the same charter flight and landed in the UAE on Sunday.
“I can assure all fans of the game that they will really enjoy the match even though there will be no crowd or spectators on the field,” Laxman said in a video released by the franchise on Sunday. “Don’t ever think that the strength or consistency of cricket is going to come down.
“Probably the wickets may be on the slower side, but we just have to wait and see because we may just be surprised by the efforts made by the ground staff. The outfield is going to be fantastic, but the wickets are something that I hope will be well taken care of by the ground staff.”
At the 2020 IPL auction, the Sunrisers were focused on young Indian middle-order batsmen. We selected Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Virat Singh and B Sandeep, among others. Laxman said it was a conscious effort on the part of the management. If you see the makeup of our squad, we had a lot of seasoned players from both the U.S. and India. But when we look at the domestic players, we [were] needed to strengthen our batting, particularly our middle-order batting. But we’ve been with the actor in the last few seasons.
Before the auction, the Sunrisers had already made changes to their coaching team. Trevor Bayliss replaced Tom Moody as head coach, while Brad Haddin joined Simon Helmot as assistant coach. Haddin and Bayliss have worked together since winning the 2012 T20 Champions League as captain and coach for the Sydney Sixers. Bayliss also managed the Knight Riders of Kolkata from 2012 to 2015, a time during which they won two IPL titles. Laxman is upset about the prospect of working with both of them.
“Trevor is one of the most successful cricket coaches in the world; England won the World Cup for the first time under his coaching,” Laxman said. “He’s someone I’ve always admired and all the interactions I’ve had with him have been excellent-I’ve learned something with every interaction. He’s a cool, calm person and a wonderful human being. At the same time, he has the temperament to manage the best teams and the best players.
“I played a lot against Brad Haddin when I was playing for India, and he’s someone who’s a relentless competitor. He’ll certainly give 100 percent or potentially more than 100 percent as an assistant coach. I’m looking forward to working with both Trevor and Brad.”
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