Dale Steyn said he turned his back on the world’s most lucrative T20 league, the Indian Premier League, because he found the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and the Sri Lankan Premier League (LPL) were “slightly more rewarding”.
The South African fast bowler, who is currently in Pakistan with the Quetta Gladiators franchise, said he believed the excessive emphasis on the financial aspect of the IPL meant “the cricket gets forgotten”. Talking to Cricket Pakistan, he also revealed that the length of the IPL was a factor that further informed his decision to opt out this year, saying he wanted “a bit more time off”.
“I wanted to take a bit more time off. I found that playing in those other leagues was slightly more rewarding as a player. I think when you go to the IPL there are such big squads and so many big names and so much emphasis on the amount of money that the players earn that somewhere along the line the cricket kind of gets forgotten. When you come to the PSL or the LPL, there’s an importance on the cricket.
Steyn had announced earlier this year that he won’t be available for IPL 2021. He was part of Royal Challengers Bangalore squad for IPL 2020 but was released by the team ahead of the February player auction.
“When you come to (a tournament) like PSL or Sri Lankan Premier League, there really is an importance on the cricket. I have only been here for a couple of days and I have had people in and out of my room just wanting to know about where I have played and how I went about it,” Steyn said.
“Whereas sometimes when you go to the IPL, that kind of gets forgotten. The main topic is how much money did you go for this IPL. And that’s just me being brutally honest.
“I wanted to probably stay away from that this year and put more emphasis on playing and bringing good vibes to good cricket teams,” Steyn added.
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