Matthew Hayden Highlights IPLs Dominance Over International Cricket

Matthew Hayden has highlighted the dominance of the IPL over international cricket. He even called the league being preferred by the players more over international games, as it has sparked a debate. His statements highlight how other country players have started to take the IPL seriously.

When the Indian Premier League happens, you may not be able to see much of international cricket. This is due to the fact that the IPL is also a part of the ICC Future Tours Programme, meaning that less international games are scheduled in the IPL months. And recently, Matthew Hayden has spoken about the dominance of IPL over international cricket.

In a podcast, he said, “Talking to players from different teams, I feel that foreign players- particularly South Africans, and to some extent Australians and New Zealanders- tend to view this competition as even bigger than international cricket.” Here he showed that even the overseas players are taking the tournament more seriously than the international games.

He continued by saying, “You can understand why they feel that way. There is so much hype around it. The IPL takes over completely during its run. There’s cricket every day, sometimes even twice a day. When you're in that environment, it's hard to escape it. And if you start chasing results or performances, your mindset can get crowded, making things more complicated than they need to be.”

Our Take

The words of Matthew Hayden can somehow be considered as true. The IPL has really been a popular T20 league, attracting millions of fans, not just in India but worldwide. While the Indian players are a core part of the tournament, even the overseas players have started to take the tournament seriously. This can be known with the fact that New Zealand is playing the series against Bangladesh with its A squad, as the main players are busy in the IPL.