Indian Premier League (IPL) has helped many cricketers throughout the years not only in India but also helps other players from other countries as well. Former seamer and current national selector of New Zealand, Gavin Larsen thinks IPL helps in the growth of players among New Zealand cricketers.
“It’s very clear. Its highlighted in our Master Agreement (MA) that IPL window must be available for our players if they do get picked up by a franchise,” Larsen told PTI in an exclusive interview.
“When our players are picked up by IPL franchise, they can only develop their game. We are seeing some of the results that have come in terms of Players’ improvement which has been a fantastic part of cricket growth,” he added.
Read here: India Draw Warm-Up Game Against New Zealand XI
However, he admitted that scheduling could be a problem although this is not anything to be worried at the moment. Gavin Larsen mainly monitors New Zealand players’ performances in the IPL now.
“There are small challenges around scheduling, for instance, England tours, which can be packed up close to IPL. So it’s a challenge around players’ availability. But it’s not a common issue generally I am not being negative,” Larsen said.
“Definitely, part of the role to continually monitor the group of players, both guys who are incumbent Black Caps and those who are in the ranks, to make sure they are managed appropriately, they are working on their games. IPL is a part of that,” he shared.
Gavin Larsen believes they need to be being financially well-off which can be a gateway like the franchise leagues, county cricket as well as club cricket in the UK.
“The problem in NZ is that domestic cricketers are contracted for only seven months a year and for the rest of the five months, they leave their associations and go off to the United Kingdom to play county or club cricket to make their ends meet,” shared the former player.
“Cricket is a big part of our DNA and we called it our ‘Summer Game’. Clearly rugby sits on top of the ladder. When a young talent is identified in New Zealand, it is very important for us to try and hold that talent up in the pipeline. We can’t afford because of our size and scale to have too much attrition,” he said.
“I met Wrighty (nickname) in Lincoln where India A was playing and he came to have a look at some of his (MI) players (Krunal Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav). It was great speaking to him. Tactical stuff, some players we saw in IPL. He was interested in catching up as to how some of our young players are doing,” he added.
Also read: Cheteshwar Pujara Comments On Winning ICC World Test Championship
While talking about New Zealand and their poor show in Super Overs in recent times, Larsen thinks it is not actually the mental block, instead of this is more about strategic blunders.
“We don’t want to see another Super Over,” he said in jest, sayng: “I think it’s not a mental block but probably we need to tactically rethink from bowling point of view. You know we have given the ball regularly to Tim Southee as our experienced bowler to bowl the Super Overs. Perhaps, we need to sit back and just work on who could be our best option. Frankly, if I don’t see any Super Over for next five to 10 years, I will be very happy.”
“Absolutely, any country does run a succession plan across three formats. There are series of scouts who put their thoughts into the melting pot. We co-ordinate all that and are pretty clear on who our developing talent is. The guys like Wags (Wagner), Taylor, they are not going to be around forever. So chapters close and then new chapter opens,” Gavin Larsen concluded.
