Team India registered a 2-wicket defeat in the second match of the five-match T20I series at the Providence Stadium, Guyana on Sunday (August 6). The result means India are now 0-2 down in the series. While India were asked to field first in the first match, they tried batting first in the second game. On both occcasions though, the result was same. Following India's two successive defeats to West Indies in international cricket for first time in 12 years, former India cricketer Robin Uthappa listed out one reason why the team has failed to do well in ICC tournaments in recent years.
Uthappa, who was part of India's T20-World Cup winning side in South Africa in 2007, said that while players from every other country do have an experience of playing in India, thank to the IPL, the fact that Indian players do not get to participate in overseas leagues untill they announce their retirement and get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Indian cricket board comes back to hurt them.
"Well, yeah, I certainly think the exposure at the IPL and I think it is a trick that India misses out, especially in the ICC tournaments, because we don't play any other leagues in any other part of the world," Uthappa said while sharing his views on the game as a pundit for JioCinema.
"And I think yes, it does well to protect the IPL as an entity, but I think it costs us at the ICC level. And I think those are the advantages that the accomplished players have against our Indian bowlers when they play them in bilateral or they play against them in ICC tournament. They have had so much exposure against them in the nets and playing against them in the IPL for years 3,4,5,6 years. So you already know what the bowler does, you already know what the batter does. So you have a lot of information," Uthappa added.
India and West Indies will lock horns in the third ODI in Guyana on Tuesday (August 8). The match will be a must-win for the Hardik Pandya-led Indian side if they want to remain alive in the series.