Kevin Pietersen Advices Cricket Boards Not To Organise Any International Matches During IPL
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen called IPL the ‘biggest show in town’ and suggested that cricket boards around the world should try and not organise matches around the event.
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen on Friday said that the Indian Premier League is the ‘biggest show’ when it is on and no international game should be scheduled during the course of the T20 event.
The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League is scheduled to begin on April 9 and most of the boards have decided either to finish their series right before the IPL or just not play any international cricket during this time.
Bangladesh recently finished their tour of New Zealand, whose cricketing body hasn’t scheduled any series for now. Bangladesh though will play Sri Lanka later this month.
South Africa was playing the first ODI against Pakistan in Centurion, when Pietersen tweeted from his official account on Friday. It was the first of three matches to be played before the two teams meet again in the shortest format, T20Is. Pietersen posted a tweet in which he made a statement that no boards should have series during the IPL.
“Cricket boards need to realise that the @IPL is the biggest show in town. DO NOT schedule ANY international games whilst it’s on. V v v simple!,” Pietersen tweeted.
Apart from India, England, Australia, New Zealand and West Indies have decided not to schedule any series in the middle of the IPL.
England Cricket Board and New Zealand Cricket have publicly admitted that they try to give a window to their players for them to gain exposure and experience of playing with established names in pressure situations.
South Africa are currently hosting Pakistan for a limited-overs series and will release their players bound for IPL such as Quinton de Kock, David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje after the second ODI on Sunday.
