IPL and international cricket can’t be compared: Shanto

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto feels that the run fest happening in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is not an indication of what will happen in the forthcoming ICC T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean, saying that IPL and international cricket are not comparable.

"You can't compare IPL with international cricket at all," Shanto told the media in Mirpur after Bangladesh lost the fifth and final T20I against Zimbabwe today.

"I think even in last year's PSL [Pakistan Super League], scores over 200 and even in excess of 250 were scored. But from my understanding, if a team makes over 160, around 175-180 or 200, that's a very good score in international cricket. You don't see such scores too often.

"I think, we will see similar scores in the World Cup, the scores will be around 160-180 on good wickets. The bowlers will have to defend those scores or teams would have to chase it. I don't think a comparison with the IPL is logical in any way," he added.

However, even by Shanto's standards, Bangladesh's scores were mostly under par against Zimbabwe in the recently-concluded series.

The Tigers batted first in three of the five matches and scored over 160 only once, in the third T20I in Chattogram, which they won by nine runs.

However, Shanto said that batting was difficult in the initial overs throughout the series, which is why the scores from both sides remained moderate to low in all five matches.

"From the outside, people might be thinking that the wickets in Chattogram usually produce a lot of runs. But this time in the three matches we played there, batting was really difficult against the new ball.

"Out of them, in two of the games we had to go off the field a few times while batting due to rain. So, we couldn't create any momentum. It might seem like an excuse but that's how we assessed the wicket. The batsmen were given the freedom to read the wicket and bat accordingly."