Zaheer injury can hurt India: Manjrekar

New Delhi: In an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN Sports Editor Gaurav Kalra, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram and former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar reflected on what the ICC World Twenty20 promises.

CNN-IBN: Let's talk a little bit about Twenty20 cricket. Did you watch the IPL?

Wasim Akram: Yes, I did.

CNN-IBN: What about the IPL did you enjoy the most?

Wasim Akram: I enjoyed the way it was done. It was fun, it looked fun on television. The competitiveness among the cricketers and of the game. The first year didn't look that serious to me. The rich people bought their teams, bought players - would be fun. But this year, it was all about pride and winning. You could see the difference in the game as well.

CNN-IBN: One of the things that stood out in this IPL was all the veterans. Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Anil Kumble - Wasim Akram should be playing in the IPL.

Wasim Akram: I have had my innings, believe me. If I bowl now, I'll probably kill the leg umpire.

CNN-IBN: You saw Anil bowl, you saw Adam Gilchrist keep wickets, you saw Matthew Hayden get runs.

Wasim Akram: The key to these experienced cricketers doing well is the fact that they know that you can't hit every ball out of the park, and you can't get a wicket from every ball. That's why the experienced players got runs. Unless you're Gilchrist, that's a different ball game altogether. If you hit a boundary or a six, take a single off the next. You need to have wickets in hand in the last five overs. So they're learning now.

CNN-IBN: We've had sixty T20 games to watch of late. Is there a concern at all, that there has been too much T20 cricket, maybe people have had too much of it, and the T20 World Cup is coming up too soon?

Wasim Akram: T20 cricket has just started now. It's not going to be too much. The difference with the ICC is that it becomes nation against nation. The people's reaction to it would be totally different as it would be towards the IPL. There would be a lot more countries involved.

With the IPL it was about supporting cities or franchises. People won't get sick during the T20 World Cup because, eventually, both the tournaments would be once a year.

Sanjay Manjrekar: Say there is another Premier League, maybe the Australian Premier League, maybe then people would start feeling this is enough. But this is the World T20. These are the best teams in the world, international players clashing against each other. The feedback that we've got as to what people are anticipating the channel - is tremendous.

CNN-IBN: The tournament will be in England in June. Who better than Wasim Akram to tell us what it's going to be like? We saw in South Africa in this IPL, that the bowlers got into it. It wasn't like the batting fest the first season was. What can we expect from the conditions in England. Will the games be of 180-200 range or 140-150?

Wasim Akram: I just got to know that the weather in England in June would be the hottest in quite some time and sunny all the way. There are three venues: Lord's, which juggles a bit, a bit of seam movement. But the Oval has always been a flat deck, doesn't matter whether it rains or not, and so is Nottingham (Trent Bridge) - the flattest track in England. So yes, I think there will be a lot more runs than in South Africa. The spinners won't be able to turn the ball as much. The wickets there don't break as quickly. Spinners might get some bounce at Oval.

CNN-IBN: You expect the batsmen to come into it a lot more in England than they did in South Africa in the T20 World Cup?

Wasim Akram: I think so.

Sanjay Manjrekar: One of the biggest characteristic of what we saw in South Africa was the effectiveness of spin because of the slowing wickets as well as the bounce. That had a huge impact in the final scores and the results. Teams that were set targets of 140 were struggling to get there.

You might not see that kind of surfaces in England, so the spinners may not make as much of a contribution as they did in South Africa. Thereby I think maybe the scores will get better. Unless the overhead conditions keep changing. Then you're not guaranteed of anything.

CNN-IBN: Let's talk about the favourites. A lot of people's favourites are India - they are the defending champions. Sanjay, are you worried a little bit about how some of the players look jaded. Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj didn't have the greatest IPL. Zaheer is injured, not so sure whether he'll be play or not. These are key players and India is not very sure. Is it a concern or is this team way above everyone else? Even Sachin Tendulkar mentioned about him being worried about Sehwag and Gambhir.

Sanjay Manjrekar: There are two things. There's a positive in the kind of cricket that they've played in the recent past, which is a lot of T20 cricket. That's match practice, which not too many other nations have had. That can be a huge advantage going into the World Cup.

Jaded is the negative. Zaheer Khan's injury is a big worry. Zaheer's presence in the bowling attack is very important for India. But having played so many matches, I can look at it more as something going for India rather than hindering them from not playing well.

CNN-IBN: Do you agree with that? Do you think they've got a few problems to deal with before they get onto that path?

Wasim Akram: People have been saying that they're fatigued, they're probably tired, maybe bored even. They probably are. But they are winning. When the team is winning, you don't feel tired, you don't feel fatigued.