NEW DELHI: Gautam Gambhir, currently working as the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders, has expressed his opinion that the Indian Premier League has surpassed international T20I cricket in terms of competitiveness in the modern era.
Gambhir, who has previously served as a mentor for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2021 and 2022, has a successful history with the Knight Riders, leading them to two IPL titles as a skipper in 2012 and 2014.
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The 42-year-old veteran emphasized that while international cricket was once considered more challenging than franchise cricket, the situation has reversed in recent times. Gambhir specifically highlighted the IPL, stating, "International cricket was far more tougher than franchise cricket. But today, when I look back or probably the later half of my career in franchise cricket, I thought franchise cricket became much tougher than the international T20 format, especially the IPL."
"I don't know about the other leagues because if you see in the first three or four years when you play an international game, you're literally facing five or six top-quality bowlers. But, when it comes to IPL in the first couple of years when the standard was not as good as it is now, you could always target two or three domestic bowlers," he added.
Likewise, Gambhir pointed out that batters find it easier to score runs in franchise cricket compared to international T20 matches. He observed that apart from a few exceptional sides, the level of competition in international T20 cricket falls short of the quality that India possess.
"For a batter, it is far easier to get runs in franchise cricket as compared to international cricket. Today when I look at international T20 sites, apart from two or three sites, I don't see that there is enough competition when it comes to playing for India. Not many teams can match the quality what India has. So, I feel in today's day and age, I think IPL has become far more competitive than international T20 cricket," Gambhir further stated.
As the IPL playoffs approach, Gambhir's KKR are set to face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with a spot in the final on the line.
(Inputs from ANI)
