Successful IPL can get Rahul T20 World Cup slot: Langer

PTI

New Delhi, March 20

If KL Rahul leads Lucknow Super Giants to their maiden IPL title, he will automatically be rewarded with a spot in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup, reckons head coach Justin Langer, who wants his team’s national hopefuls to “concentrate” on doing well for the franchise first.

Rahul, who is coming back from a quadriceps injury and is not expected to keep wickets at the beginning of the IPL, is still not a certainty in the Indian T20 squad and only a good IPL with both bat and gloves can seal the deal for him.

Asked how he would balance his skipper’s personal ambition with the team’s interests, Langer said it isn’t all that complicated.

“If the team does well, everyone gets rewarded. If KL can captain LSG to the IPL title, that means he would have captained well, batted well and kept wickets well,” Langer said.

Apart from Rahul, the other serious T20 World Cup contender from LSG is leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi. “The message for players like KL or Bishi (Bishnoi) will be that concentrate on playing well for LSG, their chances (of WT20 call-up) will increase.”

Coaching an IPL team

For Langer, coaching an IPL team is quite similar to coaching an international team. “It is only at domestic level that you get players for pre-season. At international level, players only assemble before competition phase. So it is pretty similar,” he said.

Having guided Australia to a T20 World Cup title, Langer said that he knows the “blue-print of success” but it will be important to execute the plans.

“I have been sleeping well for the past two years after I left coaching Australia. Now I will have sleepless nights in fitting so much talent in just 11 slots,” he said.

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