New Delhi, March 24 Former India batter Navjot Singh Sidhu hailed the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a marketing manager’s dream for having incentivised the tournament beyond imagination, making it more appealing for foreign players.
As the 2025 IPL season has kicked off in blockbuster fashion, Sidhu cited comparison from his playing days in England’s county championship to the outrageous amount of money players have gotten in last year's mega auction in Jeddah.
“The Indian Premier League is the crown jewel and has raised the level of India’s pride across the world. Earlier, we used to go to play county championship in England in huge numbers, now they are the ones who come to our country because the IPL has been incentivised.
“Who will give 21 crores to Mitchell Starc in Australia? It is a marketing manager's dream. A lot of people criticise but you have to compliment Indian cricket for being run so beautifully. Indian cricket is so big that it can sell ice to the Eskimos and sand to the Arab,” Sidhu, JioStar Expert, told IANS in a round-table conference.
The 2024 edition of the tournament saw batters dominate throughout and the breakthrough of young guns in the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Sidhu weighed in on the ‘Bold vs Gold’ debate and claimed the younger generations are getting ready to carry forward the baton from the senior players.
“There is no versus between the two generations. The young, bold generation has been molded by the golden generation. It is a matter of huge pride for India that the younger generation is getting ready to take the baton,” he added.
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