South Africa captain Graeme Smith said his players’ experience from playing in the Indian Premier League could boost the team’s chances of winning the ICC World Twenty20.
South Africa comprehensively defeated Pakistan by 59 runs at Trent Bridge in the teams’ first official practice match.
Nine of the 11 that played had featured for franchises in the domestic IPL that was played in South Africa this year. Pakistan had no players in the IPL after their government prevented them from playing for security reasons.
“It was a huge bonus that so many of our guys got the chance to score runs and take wickets in the IPL,” Smith told reporters. “In international cricket you don’t get enough time to work on your game in Twenty20 but the IPL offers 14 games to learn, develop and improve in this format.”
Pakistan’s first match of the 17-day tournament is against hosts England at The Oval on Sunday, while South Africa meet Scotland on the same day, also at The Oval.
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