Former Indian opener, Gautam Gambhir has said that he doesn’t mind cricketers skipping the IPL to prepare for the ODI World Cup 2023 as he feels that Indian cricket is the main stakeholder and not franchise cricket. The World Cup is set to be hosted by India later this year as the team seeks to lift the trophy once again on home soil after 12 years.

Speaking on Star Sports’ Road to Glory, as per the quotes in News 18, Gautam Gambhir said that a cricketer can choose to ignore the IPL this year in a bid to prepare for the World Cup.

Explaining the same, Gautam Gambhir said, “If the franchise (IPL) has to suffer, then they have to suffer. Indian cricket is the main stakeholder. Not the IPL. IPL is the byproduct. So, if India goes on to win the World Cup, then this is the big occasion. So if an important player does miss the IPL, so be it. IPL happens every year, World Cup happens every four years.”

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Gambhir also expressed that players can take a break from T20Is this year and stressed the importance of the team playing enough cricket together in the lead-up to the tournament.

Explaining the same, Gautam Gambhir said, “If people who are playing all three formats want to take a break, then they can take a break from T20Is. But surely not from the ODI format. I think the biggest mistake that Indian cricket has made for the last two World Cups is that these guys haven’t played enough cricket together. Tell me how many times we have had the best eleven in the park. We haven’t.”

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He further added, “Only at the time of the World Cup(2022 T20 World Cup) we decided to have the best playing eleven and unfortunately that wasn’t the best playing eleven. So these guys have to play together irrespective of the break they want to take, then the break has to happen in the T20s and not the 50 over game.”