“IPL gave us a platform to express ourselves” – Ajinkya Rahane responds to Dale Steyn’s comments comparing IPL with PSL


“IPL gave us a platform to express ourselves” – Ajinkya Rahane responds to Dale Steyn’s comments comparing IPL with PSL
Dale Steyn

Amidst all the talk about the India versus England series, Dale Steyn‘s comments and comparison between the Pakistan Super League and the Indian Premier League has created quite some controversy and has been the focus of cricket discussions on social media.

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I think when you go to IPL, there are such big squads and so many big names and so much emphasis on maybe the amount of money players earn and everything like that, so sometimes, somewhere down the line, cricket gets forgotten,” Steyn had said.

“When you come to like a PSL or the Sri Lankan Premier League, for that matter, there 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,” he had added.

“Whereas, when I go to something like the IPL that gets forgotten and the main topic is how much money did you go for in this IPL? That’s just me being brutally honest. I wanted to stay away from that and really put more emphasis on playing and bringing good vibes to good cricket teams and tournaments I feel are worth it,” he had further said.

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Ajinkya Rahane speaks on Dale Steyn’s comments

Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane addressed reporters in a virtual press conference today and spoke about the prospect of qualifying for the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) with regard to the India vs England series. On first being asked if the WTC was like the World Cup, he said, “Absolutely, Ishant was spot on in what he said the same thing. Winning the WTC is equal to winning the World Cup. We are all focusing on that, having said that, the focus right now is to play the fourth Test against England. Ishant was completely right.”

He was then asked of Steyn’s comments on the IPL to which Rahane replied saying, “See, I am here to talk about the fourth Test match and not here to talk about PSL or Sri Lanka Premier League. IPL gave us that platform to express ourselves and also to a lot of Indians players. I am not sure what Dale Steyn has said, I am here to talk about this Test match.”

On being asked about what kind of pitch he expects for the fourth test, Rahane said, “The wicket would be similar to the third Test and also the second Test what we played in Chennai. The wicket would be similar, yes the pink ball made the difference, it was coming much quicker off the wicket as compared to the red ball. That was an adjustment we had to make but as I said the wicket would be a lot similar to the last two Test matches. The pitch looks pretty similar, I do not know how it is going to play, we have to wait and see.” and signed off.

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