After India’s defeat in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, former India head coach Ravi Shastri added that players getting 20 days’ preparation time for a big event don’t help them. He also added that this is on the cricketers as they will have to skip the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) to get extra practice days for the mega event as well.

However, after India’s 209-run loss to Australia in the WTC final, captain Rohit Sharma said that 20-25 days of preparation time is needed for a big match like a World Test Championship final. Notably, most of the Indian players were part of IPL 2023 and reached England just seven to 10 days before the start of the WTC final as well.

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Sharing his views on the topic, Shastri told Star Sports: “That’s never going to happen. Let’s be realistic. You’re going to get 20 days, but if that’s the case, you got to miss the IPL. The choice is yours (players),” he explained. “It’s up to the establishment as well. I’m sure the BCCI is going to review this in the future. If the WTC Final is going to come after the IPL, in the month of June, for that season, if your team qualifies for the final, there should be certain clauses put in for the franchises.”

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However, apart from skipper Rohit Sharma, head coach Rahul Dravid also agreed that arriving in England a couple of weeks earlier and playing some games would have helped their preparation ahead of the WTC final as well. However, talking about India’s inability to win an ICC trophy since 2013, Ravi Shastri praised former India captain MS Dhoni, saying that it’s not easy to win big events. Notably, MS Dhoni was the captain when India won an ICC event for the last time – the Champions Trophy in 2013 as well.