The unforeseeable boom of the cash-rich IPL has played a huge role in shaping the dynamic and the growth of the shorter format of the game.
So much so, that former India batter and current KKR coach Gautam Gambhir believes that the IPL has trumped over even international T20 cricket to become the fiercer competition as a whole.
In a talk with Ravichandran Ashwin, Gambhir recalled his experiences with witnessing the growth of and being a part of the rise of the shorter format of cricket.
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The iconic batter shed light on how the IPL has overtaken even the standards of international T20 cricket over the years, due to the influx of talent that the cash-rich league has inspired.
“In my first couple of years in the IPL, I thought international cricket was far more tougher than franchise cricket. But, today when I look back, at the latter half of my career in franchise cricket, franchise T20 cricket, especially the IPL, became much tougher than international T20 formats,” reminisced Gambhir in talks with Ashwin on his YouTube show ‘Kutti Stories with Ash’.
“If you see in the first 3-4 years when you play an international game, you were facing just 5-6 top-quality bowlers. But, when it came to the IPL, in the first couple of years when the standard was not as good as it is now, you could always target 2-3 domestic bowlers. For a batter, it was far more easier to get runs in franchise cricket than in international cricket then.”
Gambhir owed the creation of this imbalance to the sheer dominance that the Indian Cricket Team has established over the years in the shorter format of the game.
With the rise of the IPL, the KKR coach believes that the quality of domestic players also arose, as a new window of opportunity for all these youngsters to venture into international cricket opened up with the success of the IPL over the years.
“Today when I look at international T20 sides, apart from 2-3 teams, I don’t see enough competition when it comes to playing for India. Not many teams can match the quality that India has. So, I feel that in today’s day and age, IPL has become far more competitive than international T20 cricket,” added Gambhir.
“Just the quality of the domestic players has changed. Just the way domestic players want to play in the IPL, and the way they work around T20 cricket. I think most of their focus is on playing T20 cricket.”
But, the former WC-winner also warned Ashwin of the risk that the hyper-focus on the shorter and cash-rich format holds with respect to the growth of Indian cricket as a whole across other formats as well, and stated that the platform that IPL provides shouldn’t be a direct door to enter the national squad.
“But, the bigger concern that arises as well is about how many youngsters want to play Test cricket for India…I hope the IPL is not a shortcut to play for India,” exclaimed Gambhir.
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