Harbhajan Singh Questions India's T20 World Cup Preparation With Blunt 'IPL Scheduling' Remark

With only a couple of weeks to go before the T20 World Cup 2024 begins, a number of England players have left the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 for international commitments. While top teams will soon have their international camps for next month's mega event, Indian players will be busy with the IPL 2024, especially those whose teams are going into the playoffs. With the IPL final taking place on May 26, the Indian players won't have enough time to group together and prepare for the T20 World Cup collectively. The 'lack of preparation' is already worrying former India spinner Harbhajan Singh.

The former India off-spinner didn't mince his words as he pointed finger at the IPL scheduling for the lack of time that Team India would get for T20 World Cup preparations.

"I think with this IPL scheduling, it is so difficult to have everyone together to play a few matches. But yes, we have two games in America before the tournament starts," he said on Star Sports.

Harbhajan feels the team should've had about 4-5 games before the start of the tournament to best prepare itself. He strongly asked for a 10-15 day gap between IPL and other major ICC events like World Test Championship or World Cups.

"Yes, I believe it would have been better for them to have 4-5 games, you know collectively playing against some top team like England or Australia in America, just to get used to those conditions. But that doesn't seem to be happening. But now, whatever small window we have, those two games, we have to make the best use of it. Going forward, it is a great suggestion. When you are playing a tournament like the World Cup or WTC, the team should play together for 10-15 days, it will be better," he further added.