NZ v IND 2020: NZ selector Gavin Larsen lauds IPL for development of Kiwi cricketers

Larsen also spoke about the importance of IPL in the next two years.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson in the IPL | AFP

New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen has credited the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the development of a lot of Kiwi cricketers.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has managed to give IPL an international window so that it can accommodate a large number of international players in the league. It has not only proved beneficial to the franchises, but also to the national cricket boards.

New Zealand chief selector and former cricketer Gavin Larsen told PTI, “It's very clear. Its highlighted in our Master Agreement (MA) that the 1IPL window must be available for our players if they do get picked up by a franchise. When our players are picked up by the 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 also mentioned how the IPL performances of Kiwi players will have to be monitored even closer now that there are a couple of T20 World Cups in a span of fewer than 2 years.

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 said.

He also revealed an interesting conversation he had with John Wright, who has been with the Mumbai Indians (MI), for a long time. Larsen met Wright during a match where India A was playing. He had come to watch some MI players play there.

The 57-year-old 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.

(With inputs from PTI)

 
 

By Sameer Deodhar - 15 Feb, 2020

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