“Don’t ever think that the energy or the quality of cricket will come down” Laxman on IPL 2020

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s batting mentor VVS Laxman has stated that he is confident that the quality of cricket will not suffer even if the matches of the upcoming IPL are played in front of empty stands owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I can assure all the fans of the game that they will really enjoy the competition even though there won’t be any crowd or any spectators on the ground. Don’t ever think that the energy or the quality of cricket will come down.” VVS Laxman said in a video posted by SRH.

Moved out of India due to the health crisis. The 13th edition of the world’s biggest T20 league will be played across the three venues of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah in the UAE from September 19th to November 10th. 

“The outfield will be fantastic but the wickets are something that I hope will be well taken care of by the ground staff.” Laxman said.

Laxman said the management had made up its mind before the 2020 auction. The mindset was to pick young Indian batsmen for the middle-order. This resulted in the inclusion of promising players such as Priyam Garg, Virat Singh, and B Sandeep among others. 

Sunrisers implies new approach in the dressing room as well

Ahead of the auction, Sunrisers made changes to their support staff too. They brought in Trevor Bayliss in place of Tom Moody as the head coach. While Brad Haddin, who has worked with Bayliss before, replaced Simon Helmet as the assistant coach. 

“Trevor is one of the most successful coaches in world cricket; England won the World Cup for the first time under his coaching. Whereas Brad Haddin is a hardcore competitor. He will definitely give 100 percent or probably more than 100 percent as the assistant coach.” Laxman said.

As the build-up to the IPL has already begun. The Sunrisers, along with the Delhi Capitals, were the last of the eight IPL teams to reach the UAE.

Also Read: IPL 2020: KL Rahul shares his COVID-19 lockdown nightmares