Ravi Shastri, the former head coach of Team India, has been speaking continually about the shift in the tides of international cricket that is being brought upon by the IPL. With the introduction of T20 leagues across the globe, the cricketing calendar has become very tight and has usually affected the preparations of teams in lead up to major events.
The 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) build-up was a rapid turnaround of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) which rescheduled its final on June 3. Australia and South Africa are the finalists, and neither of the teams has had the best red-ball build-up to the contest, a situation that Team India was also in before the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) Final.
The Men in Blue lost their second consecutive WTC Final at The Oval by a huge margin of 209 runs, looking undercooked against a well-trained Australian team. The team required at least “20-25” days to be at their peak, according to former India captain Rohit Sharma, who bemoaned the lack of preparation time after the defeat.
“In an ideal scenario, yes, I would prefer it if we have 20-25 days to prepare for a game like this,” Sharma had said after the loss. (via ESPN Cricinfo).
Ravi Shastri commented that such a luxurious window for preparation in the present day is impractical. The former all-rounder went on to say that the franchise league must be eliminated from the cricket schedule in order for this provision to be available.
“Let’s be realistic here. You’re not going to get those 20 days. And if that’s the case then you’ve got to miss IPL. So, the choice is yours and it’s up to the establishment as well. I’m sure the BCCI will review this in the future, if a World Test Championship [final] is going to come after an IPL every time in the month of June, then for that season, if your team qualifies for the final, there should be certain clauses put to franchises.”
Ravi Shastri
Cricket South Africa (CSA) recently made it clear that they would recall their players in advance of the Indian Premier League 2025 Playoffs and give priority to getting ready for the WTC Final. Even though their teams qualified for the knockout stages, players like Corbin Bosch, Ryan Rickelton, Marco Jansen, and Kagiso Rabada were not included.
2023 WTC Final was held 10 days after the 2023 IPL Final
According to the initial schedule of IPL 2025, there was a small break of two weeks, starting May 25, before the WTC Final, which is slated to begin on June 11. But, it was the one-week suspension of tournament in India that dragged the schedule beyond. The adjusted calendar also witnessed the extension of the tournament to June 3 that ate into the break that was supposed to be used in preparation.
In 2023, where India were one of the finalists in the WTC, the final of IPL was played on May 28, whereas the WTC Final commenced for India (and others) w.e.f. June 7 onwards.
