Ricky Ponting credits IPL for the overall development of Indian Cricketers, who have access to coaches from across cultures and conditions.
The success of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which will host its 16th season next year, is there for the entire cricketing fraternity to see. Indian players in particular, have not only experienced growth financially, but also in terms of their skill-set, so much so that a host of players have been able to make their successful careers in international Cricket owing to impressive performances in the league itself.
The biggest beneficiaries of this cash-rich league have been the young domestic Indian players, who get to rub their shoulders alongside some of the top international players for around a couple of months each year.
Moreover, their access to world class coaches, which include legendary Cricketers from the past as well, and other top-class coaching staff members from around the world including strength and conditioning coaches, or even nutritionists have acted as a boon for the upcoming generation of talented cricketers.
Ricky Ponting credits IPL for the overall development of Indian Cricketers
Legendary Australian skipper and also the present head coach of the IPL franchise Delhi Capitals, Ricky Ponting, believes that tournaments like the IPL, have brought in the different Cricketing cultures from around the world at a commonplace, and this crossover of cultures have benefited the players no end.
During an interaction with the ICC on the evolution of the game, Ponting further opined that coaches from around the world bring in the coaching methodology specific to their country, which largely benefits players travelling around the world.
Coaches in the likes of Gary Kirsten, Dale Steyn, Muttiah Muralitharan, Michael Hussey, Mahela Jayawardena, or even Ponting himself have helped in the development of the emerging crop of Indian players in particular, who have had unprecedented access to quality and experience which could not have been possible without the emergence of a franchise tournament like the IPL.
“They’re becoming more rounded players”- Ricky Ponting
Asserting on the aforementioned point, Point exclaimed, “Competitions like the IPL or a CPL, have played a huge part in crossing over of different cultures and the understanding of different cultures. You’ve also got coaches from different countries, so you always have a crossover of different ideas and cultural coaching methods.
Growing up in Australia, or growing up in India, or England, South Africa, the coaches have all coached a certain way in the conditions that they’ve played in. So I think now that the players are playing a lot more around the world, they’re getting exposed to different conditions, to different coaching methods, that they’re becoming more rounded players as a result. I think that’s one area that the Indian Cricket’s has really been out of thrive.”
