In his latest interview, Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian cricketer, had no hesitation to state that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is as big as the T20 World Cup. The 42-year-old pointed out that there isn’t much of a difference between the first place and the last place teams in the IPL, which makes it equal to the biggest international T20 tournament in the world.
Notably, in the 2024 season of the IPL, Gautam Gambhir, the newly appointed mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders has played a critical role in the resurgence of the franchise. KKR have reached the final of the tournament, set to be played on Sunday, May 26, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, where they will take on the winner of Qualifier 2 between SRH and RR from later today.
Gautam Gambhir gave his thoughts on the ongoing season of the IPL in an interview to Sportskeeda, and said, “I am impressed with most of the teams (in IPL) because the team that has finished on no.1 and the team that finished at no.10 (in league stage), there is not too much difference between them. If a five-match series is played between two teams, I won't be surprised if the bottom placed team defeats the top team.”
“This is the beauty of IPL. That's why we say that the IPL is the toughest league in the world. IPL is as big as any T20 World Cup. Because the margin between the teams is very, very very less. I can never predict (who is going to win). It is impossible to predict. You can never predict in IPL. The margin between teams finishing in top four and not finishing in top four is very less,” he added.
It is important to remember that Gautam Gambhir is the former T20 World Cup winner with India, getting his hands on the title in the inaugural edition in 2007.