Holding blames IPL for India’s poor show in England

 By CricketCountry Staff

 

West Indian legend Michael Holding has launched an attack on the Indian Premier League (IPL) blaming it for India’s poor performance in the Test series against England.

Michael Holding has blamed the IPL for India’s injury woes and poor batting technique © Getty Images

 By CricketCountry Staff

Northampton: Aug 5, 2011  

West Indian legend Michael Holding has launched an attack on the Indian Premier League (IPL) blaming it for India’s poor performance in the Test series against England.

Holding was quoted in Mid Day as saying, “I don’t think the current Indian team is bothered about the defeat in the first two Tests. My only concern is – are they giving any extra effort, or playing like ‘supposed’ world champions?

“Even after the Lord’s debacle, the answer is a clear no! That’s because, they will get more money to play in the IPL.”

Holding questioned the commitment of younger players, and asked how these young players got injured after the IPL and not before the coveted league.

 “Why anyone not gets injures before the IPL, you tell me. That’s because they are getting huge amounts of money (in IPL). Why would they bother about international commitments?” he asked.

Holding said that apart from few senior players in the team, no other player in the team cares about playing Test cricket for India.

“Except for Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, nobody else in this team seems to be worried about the reputation of the country or of Test cricket. I am sure they are all aware about Test cricket, but are not bothered,” said Holding.

Holding believes that playing on the low-bounce pitches in the IPL has spoiled the techniques of Indian batsman, and hence they struggle on foreign pitches where the bounce is more than waist-height.

“If IPL was to be organised in a country like South Africa or Australia, where the ball seams and bounces, the Indians would again crumble. However, if the ball is pitched beneath knee-level, like it is on Indian pitches, they will murder the bowling,” said Holding.

Holding also said the inclusion of Virat Kohli in the Test squad is a good move by the Indian team management. “I told you all along that Virat should have been part of the squad. If three out of the six batsmen (Abhinav Mukund, Yuvraj and Suresh Raina) have problems against short-pitched bowling, you cannot manage?” Holding said.

“I do not have a problem if these Indian youngsters are multi-millionaires. But they are not good enough for Test level. And that’s what counts,” concluded Holding.