The unexpected boom in the cash-rich IPL played a huge role in shaping the dynamics of the game and the growth of the shorter format.
Former India batsman and current KKR coach Gautam Gambhir even believes that the IPL has even surpassed international T20 cricket and has become more competitive overall.
In a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin, Gambhir recalled his experience of witnessing the growth of cricket's shortened format and being a part of its rise.
Stay up to date IPL 2024Contains top candidates for IPL 2024 Orange Cap and IPL 2024 Purple Cap.explore the complete IPL 2024 Schedule, IPL 2024 points table and player Most six, most four and most 50's at IPL 2024
The iconic batsman shed light on how the IPL has overtaken even international T20 cricket standards over the years due to the influx of talent spurred by the cash-rich league.
“In my first few years in IPL, I thought international cricket was much tougher than franchise cricket. But looking back today, I realized that later in my career in franchise cricket, franchise T20 cricket, IPL in particular was much tougher than the international T20 format,” Gambhir recalled in a conversation with Ashwin on his YouTube show. “Kutti Stories with Ash”.
“If you look at the first three to four years of playing international matches, we were only playing against five or six top-level bowlers. But when it comes to IPL, in the early days when the standard was not as good as it is now, During the year, you could target two or three domestic bowlers at any time. It was much easier for batsmen to score runs in franchise cricket than in international cricket.”
Gambhir blamed the imbalance on the overwhelming dominance that the Indian cricket team has established over the years in the shorter format of the game.
With the rise of IPL, the KKR coach believes that the success of IPL over the years has opened up new opportunities for all these youngsters to try their hand at international cricket and the quality of domestic players has also improved.
“If you look at the international T20 teams today, apart from a couple of teams, you don't see enough competition when it comes to playing in India. There are not many teams that can match the quality of India. I feel that in this day and age, IPL has become much more competitive than international T20 cricket,” Gambhir added.
“It's just the quality of domestic players that has changed. The way domestic players want to play in the IPL and the way they approach T20 cricket is the same. I think most of their focus is on playing T20 cricket.”
However, the former WC winner also warned Ashwin that focusing too much on shorter, cash-rich formats is a risk if the overall growth of Indian cricket is to grow in other formats as well. The platform stated: What the IPL offers should not be a direct door into the national team.
“But the bigger concern that arises at the same time is how many youngsters want to play Test cricket for India… I hope the IPL is not a shortcut to playing for India,” Gunn said. Beer shouted.
