Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh urged the Indian players to focus on big events as they matter the most and not the Indian Premier League, especially after Rohit Sharma and co. faced a heavy defeat in the final of the WTC 2023 against Australia on June 11 at the Oval.
Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, asked Australia to bat first, and they dominated the game by scoring 469 runs. Steve Smith and Travis Head both scored hundreds, and Mohammed Siraj claimed four wickets.
Only Ajinkya Rahane (89) and Shardul Thakur (51) offered some fight in the first innings total of 296 runs after the top order of Indian batting struggled.
With a 173-run advantage, Australia had a good time in the second innings, scoring 270/8d and giving India a 444-run goal to reach.
Despite an adventurous start to the innings, the wickets quickly started to fall, and aside from Virat Kohli's 49, Rohit Sharma's 43, and Ajinkya Rahane's 46, none of the other batters contributed to India's 209-run loss as the side was bowled out for 234.
Harbhajan said that BCCI will have to decide what is more important to them and get their priorities right. The 2023 season of the IPL ended just days before the 2023 WTC Final.
“Well, you have to set the priorities right. What is more important? As a player, what do you want to achieve? Also, as the management and the BCCI, what is more important?
IPL is a great cricket tournament for everyone. At the same time, if you are keeping an eye on the prize, which is a higher prize than the IPL, then you must give those players rest and let them prepare for this sort of game. Let them come out of the IPL window and be prepared for such events as Australia did. They have to come up with the solution and identify what is more important,” Harbhajan said on Star Sports.
He continued by stating that representing India is more important than participating in the IPL and highlighting the frequency of tournaments like the World Test Championship Final. It has been ten years since they had last claimed an ICC trophy when India won the Champions Trophy in 2013 under MS Dhoni's leadership.
“As a player if you ask me, playing for India for a big, big thing. IPL was important in terms of money, fame, and experience. But I am what I am because of the BCCI and the cricket I played for India and the World Cup we won for the BCCI. In the end, these big events matter, not the IPL. If you don't play IPL one season, you can still play the next season. These events, they come after 2 years or 4 years,” said Harbhajan.
The next ICC event will be the ODI World Cup which will be played in India in October-November this year.
