The Veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has made a huge statement that even the IPL’s growth has caught the players off guard.
Ravichandran Ashwin Makes Huge Statement on IPL
The Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reckons that IPL has grown so big that players sometimes find it hard to trick between training and advertisement shoots.
Ravichandran Ashwin spoke about the rise of the IPL since its introduction in 2008. “As a youngster coming into the IPL, I was only looking to learn from the big stars, I did not think about how the IPL would look 10 years later. I can say that having been in the IPL for so many seasons, the IPL is huge,” said Ashwin on a podcast.
“Sometimes I wonder if IPL is even cricket because sport takes a backstage (during IPL). It’s so huge. We do end up practicing in advertisement shoots and sets! That’s where the IPL has gotten to,” said Ashwin.
Ashwin who picked 500 Test wickets recently, started his IPL career with CSK which made him feature for India across various formats.
During the 2022 season, IPL media rights were sold for a whopping INR 48,390 crore for five years, making it the second-biggest league in the sporting world.
Ashwin also spoke about his early days in the IPL and how the event exceeded all expectations. “No one envisaged the kind of growth that the IPL has had. I still remember a conversation I had with Scott Styris when we were both at CSK.”
“He told me that when playing for the Deccan Chargers in the initial seasons of IPL, he did not think the IPL would last for more than two to three years. Initially, there was a big influx of money,” said Ashwin.
The 17th season of IPL made one of the biggest deals during the 2024 auction where Australian pacer Mitchell Starc was brought into the Kolkata Knight Riders squad for INR 24.75 crores which was the most expensive buy in IPL history.
“Look, over the years you’d think that the IPL is one tournament that is largely won at the auctions. I believe the auctions are a very important facet of this league, but the beauty of the IPL is that franchises have evolved into getting their teams right.
“There’s no one way to skin a cat. No one player is bigger than the team. No one slot is bigger than others. The teams invest wisely,” said Ashwin.
Currently, Ravichandran Ashwin is part of the Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing IPL 2024 season. After securing victory against Delhi Captials, Rajasthan secured second place in the IPL 2024 points table.
Rajasthan Royals will be playing their next match against Rajasthan Royals on March 01 at Wankhede Stadium.
