Pakistan’s flamboyant all-rounder, 32-year-old cricketer Shahid Afridi, who will be playing in the Sri Lankan Premier League from August 12 has described Indian Premier League as the best foreign Twenty20 league and his experience of playing in the IPL in 2008 had been the best of his career said while responding to a question at the Moin Khan academy about the mushrooming growth of foreign T20 leagues in which international stars are becoming a necessity.
Afridi has been part of the T20 championships in India, Bangladesh, England and Australia but his best experience came in the IPL.
“Although I played just once in the IPL but it is easily the biggest league you can play in and I enjoyed my experience. The IPL is clearly the best organised foreign league and it was a totally different experience playing in it,” Afridi said.
Pakistani players were part of the first edition of the IPL in 2008, but due to the Mumbai terror attacks the same year so franchises have not signed any Pakistani cricketer for the league.
Afridi has termed the absence of Pakistani cricketers from the IPL as disappointing and hoped things would change next year and agreed that the growing number of foreign T20 leagues posed a challenge for traditional formats of the sport.
“Obviously as time passes and these foreign leagues grow, players are bound to find themselves in a position where they will have to take decisions about their careers,” he said.
Foreign leagues presented a good opportunity for top players to earn decent money and that is why they were being attracted to these leagues.
The Pakistan cricket Board (PCB) is under an agreement with the Sri Lankan Board and allowed its players to take part in the league so according to Afridi, the Sri Lankan league posed a big challenge for him.
“It should be a tough league but it will put us in the proper frame of mind for the coming assignments,” he added.
