Why Ravichandran Ashwin was Aggressive Over English Journalist?

Indian Premier League is one of the most popular T20 tournaments and this has caught everyone’s attention right from its inception. Many of the experts term IPL as the Cash-rich Tournament because of the scale and money that is involved in conducting the tournament — right from player purchasing to popular venues and many other factors.

But many cricket experts and critics feel that IPL has badly impacted Indian players because many of the franchises were mainly focused on international players and they are prioritizing them a lot.

Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has recently given a strong reply to all the IPL Critics and spoke about many details regarding the tournament.

Ashwin said — “What are the disadvantages because of this two-week earlier start when it comes to other countries? They (international sides) would have already scheduled their international calendar. For instance, we have England and Australia are playing a few games against different countries during the IPL. Even Sri Lanka has few international matches during the IPL window,”.

He has also added — “But mostly, South Africa, Australia, England, and New Zealand, schedule their international games based on IPL fixtures. This year, New Zealand is not having any international matches during IPL.”

Speaking about a few English Journalists he said — “Lawrence Booth (English journalist) had tweeted about IPL fixtures saying it takes almost one-third (one-sixth) of the year. Even the English Premier League happens and almost has a six-month window. The players will have more gaps between matches and they will have only one or two matches per week. Of course, cricket getting to that stage will always remain a huge question mark. But IPL as a league has all the potential to take cricket into that stage for sure. And all the cricket viewers, cricket nations, stakeholders know this already,”

He has further added — “Because of this IPL window, there might be a chance that other formats of international cricket or world events might get shortened. For example, while EPL is taking place in football, there will be simultaneous leagues taking place in Italy, Spain, etc. And they will have a champions league as well. And four years once, they have a FIFA World Cup as well.

“Whereas in cricket, we have a 50-over World Cup, World Test Championship, T20 World Cup, and add to that, we need to have windows for all these leagues as well, like IPL, PSL, T10 league, CPL, BBL, etc. In England, they have a Hundred-ball competition and add to that, they have a T20 Blast as well. There are so many leagues being started every year,” He added.

Ashwin has concluded by saying — “It doesn’t stop with the IPL alone. Players get opportunities to play in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and showcase their talent there as well. In addition to that, players also get opportunities in Media, coaching setup, or some other ecosystem setup that gives them opportunities. That is a massive tick for IPL, he said.”