Graeme Smith, former South Africa captain and current SA20 League commissioner, has praised the Indian Premier League (IPL), calling it one of the biggest sports leagues in the world. Reflecting on his own IPL career, Smith scored 739 runs in 29 matches, including four fifties. He played for Pune Warriors in the 2011 season and was part of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) squad under Shane Warne during the first three IPL seasons, winning the inaugural trophy in 2008.
“I think a lot of people forget the early years of the IPL. There were many moving parts that had to work for the league to grow the way it did. Today, the IPL is one of the biggest leagues in the world across all sports,” Smith said during the SA20 India Day event.
Smith emphasised the importance of nurturing a strong local player base and building a solid cricketing product, drawing parallels between SA20 and the early IPL.
“The most important thing at the core of everything is always the cricket product. Every year the cricket gets stronger, and the local player base keeps growing. That has also been the strength of the IPL,” he explained.
“When I think back to 2008, the first IPL season when I played for Rajasthan Royals, and then see how the next generation of Indian talent has grown, it shows what a strong local base can achieve. That is what we aim for in SA20 as well, alongside world-class international players,” he added.
