IPL 2020 in UAE: Dean Jones reveals deciding factor of playing in extremely hot conditions

The Indian Premier League (IPL)is set to be played in the United Arab Emirates starting 19th September and one individual who is aware about a lot of T20 being played in the middle-east is Australia’s Dean Jones.

The former Australian cricketer, who is popularly known as Deano within the cricketing circle, has been linked with the Pakistan Premier League as a cricket expert and coach in recent years.

The former cricketer’s familiarity with T20 cricket being played in the UAE gives him an advantage as a cricket pundit during the forthcoming IPL.

Talking to HT, Jones stated that it could all depend on who plays spin better as the pitches are going to get weary with so much cricket being played on them in extremely hot climates.

“Well, they will be using all three grounds at Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. Whenever I have commentated there or coached in the PSL, I can say they all have their individual characteristics. You need to make sure you have got your match-ups right. The major concern for all the teams would be that with so much cricket being played on all three venues, the pitches will get tired and that’s only natural.

“So, it might come down to who plays spin better. Some teams might pick three spinners and only two quicks. At the start the pitches will be great to bat on but there is no doubt that they will get tired as the tournament goes on,” Jones said.

The matches will be conducted in three venues and the magnitude of the fields in these venues vary from one another. The Former Australian cricketer stated that he would want the Indian cricket body (BCCI) to hold the matches in the original size of the field and not pull the boundaries in as it would mean the teams would’ve to accommodate themselves to different needs.

“Sharjah is the smallest but Dubai and Abu Dhabi have big grounds. How the BCCI manages the size of the ground is going to be quite interesting.’

“I like it when grounds are played at their normal size. Abu Dhabi is big so it will give some help to the spinners and batsmen need to work on their running between the wickets. Dubai can be made as big ground and you can get caught at the boundary and Sharjah, well you can get hurt if you don’t get it right because mishits go for sixes there.

“They are all completely different sized grounds and I hope they will stick to the natural sizes of the ground,” Jones opined. Asked about players he is keen to watch during the 13th edition of the IPL, Dean Jones mentioned the names of Shubhman Gill and Rishabh Pant.

“I want to see Shubman Gill open the batting for Kolkata Knight Riders. I think there is an opportunity for it now and the time has come for them to put him at the top of the order and let him play.

“I am also very keen to see how Rishabh Pant plays. He has been a bit up and down and it will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of knowing that Dhoni is back playing,” the former Australian cricketer said.

Dean Jones has been a cricket expert during previous seasons of the T20 league and has been part of the Dugout on Star Sports, he said that the Dugout has been a great experience for him and he is awaiting to be part of the show this year also.

“I have loved the entire experience. Scott Styris and I have been doing it for a couple of years. It’s different from what you see on the world feed during a broadcast. There are less ads and you see demonstrations and more analytics. It is more anecdotal as well where guys are talking about more stories. The world feed commentators don’t have that opportunity as they have more commercial responsibilities. We don’t have that. So, the purest of the cricket fans, the ones who want to know about the minutest details of the game will really like this.

“I hope to be doing it again this season, life is a little difficult and we hope to spread some joy with some good cricket,” Jones said.

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