IPL and PSL miles above BBL in terms of quality of cricket, reveals Shane Watson
Shane Watson has revealed that the quality of cricket that are found in IPL and PSL matches are miles above the standards set by the Big Bash League, which he believes is filled with entertainment gimmicks. He also criticised mic’ing up the captains on the field as it would affect their thinking.
Despite having the best of all worlds in the Big Bash League in terms of entertainment quality, its cricketing quality has taken a major hit. Shane Watson, who has participated in T20 leagues around the world, has compared his home league with the leagues around the world.Â
The all-rounder reckoned that India’s IPL and Pakistan’s PSL both are miles above the Big Bash in terms of cricketing quality. Watson also revealed that IPL’s system of having four best players around the world alongside the Indian talents makes it the best in the world. However, in the BBL, only two foreign players are allowed to play in a franchise.Â
"I know all too well that the quality of the cricket that is being played in the BBL is now behind some of the tournaments around the world. The Indian Premier League is the ultimate as it has all of India's best players playing throughout the whole tournament as well as each team having 4 of the best players in the world complementing the local talent,” he said, reported India Today.Â
"This is where the BBL has really lost its way. The quality of the cricket has been put on the back burner in the Big Bash and the entertainment gimmicks have been brought to the forefront."
Another point that Watson noted about the Australian’s league is its never-ending focus on improving the gimmicks. The former all-rounder added that having the captains being mic'd up which he feels, takes away their concentration from the encounter itself.Â
"One of the gimmicks that I really feel takes away from the quality of the cricket product is the mic'ing up of players - up to 2 players from each team fielding are being mic'd up with a significant amount of the captains being one of the two players. How in the world is a captain supposed to have his mind on the game when he is being interviewed regularly...," Watson concluded.