Former New Zealand opener Martin Guptill has described the IPL as the original T20 league of the world and claimed that the tournament has directly played a role in India’s consecutive T20 World Cup wins. India became the first team to defend their T20 World Cup title on home soil after defeating New Zealand in the final in March.

If anyone watches the Indian teamStarting from Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, to Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, everyone has been found IPL. Guptill pointed out this fact in an exclusive conversation with Sports Today and said that the tournament has taught Indian players how to reach the top during big events.

“I think the IPL definitely has something to play for. I mean, you look at guys like Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, these guys, obviously, Bumrah also started in the IPL, and without the IPL, these guys, India wouldn’t have had their shot, right?”

“So, you know, it has brought some very exciting players into the game. It has put India on the cusp at the right time for the last two World Cups.”

“Consistent tournaments throughout the year, and then they have played consistently well as a team over the last few years as well, and they peaked at the right time, they made the right decisions in the middle,” Guptill said.

IPL is the OG T20 league

IPL came into existence in 2008 and we have seen many T20 leagues in other countries including Pakistan, Australia and South Africa. They all follow the IPL when it comes to the auction style or even the tournament structure.

Guptill said that IPL has given other leagues an opportunity to move forward

I think it’s real, right? This is the first T20 league of its kind that was created. Now many of its leagues have developed. It is absolutely huge. “Now it’s a billion-dollar entity and it’s huge.”

“I mean, it’s taken over the world and I mean a billion people in India, they’ll always be behind the Indian Premier League and it’s very hard to compete with that. They have the population, they have all the money for broadcasting, they have everything there.”

Guptill said that he hopes that IPL will remain the number 1 T20 league for the next 20 years.

“So I think it, um, it has been able to grow since 2008. That’s almost 20 years, right? And look, it’s probably going to be at the forefront for the next 20 years as well. I think it’s going to be very difficult to compete with the IPL to move forward as the number one,” Guptill said.

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