Not playing any other leagues apart from IPL costs India at the ICC level: Robin Uthappa

After losing two T20Is in a row to the West Indies, veteran India cricketer Robin Uthappa remarked that the Men in Blue's lack of participation in other T20 leagues around the world is harming their performance in international matches and ICC events.

The 37-year-old stated that while the BCCI tries to safeguard the IPL, it eventually undermines the players' ability to comprehend the mindset of opponents who play T20 cricket more frequently.

Uthappa believes that foreign cricketers have an advantage when playing against India. India are now undergoing a metamorphosis in T20 cricket and have thus been unable to make a big impact.

He also added that because foreign players face Indian bowlers so frequently in the IPL, they are now acclimated to facing them in international cricket.

"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. And I think yes, it does well to protect the IPL as an entity, but I think it costs us at the ICC level."

"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 said while talking to JioCinema.

Meanwhile, India was defeated by West Indies by two wickets in the second T20I. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up two wickets and reversed the flow of the game in the 16th over of the competition, but skipper Hardik Pandya did not bring him back for his fourth over of the contest, and the team went on to lose the game. They must now win the remaining three series matches in order to win the series.

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