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New entrant: The Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, makes its debut.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Andy Flower is glad that he could experience the freedom of feeling the spirit of cricket in India for the first time at an IPL.
“This is my first IPL without the restrictions around Covid,” the Lucknow Super Giants coach said ahead of his team’s first match of the season, against Delhi Capitals. “For us playing on our own ground in front of our own supporters and being in the city and feeling the energy of the city it feels really special.”
The former Zimbabwean captain said the team’s foreign players, as well as the young Indians, were taken by the excitement and energy of the Lucknow population a few nights ago when they did an open bus tour ride.
Flower welcomes the new rules in the IPL. “I quite enjoy the tweaks to the rules in the game,” he said. “One of the great things about our game is the strategic and tactical element to it. And it can be like a game of chess… The teams probably will have two sets of eleven (for batting first and second).”
He said the injured left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan had virtually been written off as a selection option. “If he becomes fit at some stage during the tournament, I see that very much as a bonus,” he said.
About the recently concluded Women’s Premier League, he said it was great that women’s domestic cricket took off in India. “We know the power of Indian cricket in the world context, so I think it’s brilliant that the WPL has happened,” he said. “It can be good for not just women’s cricket, but world cricket.”
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