‘Even the EPL has a six month window’ – Ravi Ashwin retaliates at England journalist criticizing IPL

England sports journalist Lawrence Booth had criticized the Indian Premier League (IPL) by stating that the Indian T20 League occupies one-sixth of cricket’s calendar year.

And to that, Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has retorted back and stated that even the English Premier League (EPL) in football happens for a period of 6 months. Ashwin also stated that there are gaps between matches and the players only play around 2 matches in a week.

“Lawrence Booth (English journalist) had tweeted about IPL fixtures saying it takes almost one-third (one-sixth) of the year. Even the English Premier League happens and almost has a six-month window. The players will have more gaps between matches and they will have only one or two matches per week,” said Ashwin while speaking on his YouTube channel.

IPL as a league has all the potential: Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin also said that he is not sure whether cricket will get to a stage where the IPL will occupy almost half the calendar year. Adding that the IPL is a league that has a lot of potential, Ashwin said that all the fans and the stakeholders of the game already know about this. The legendary Indian bowler concluded by stating that other international cricketing events might get shortened because of the IPL in the future.

“Of course, cricket getting to that stage will always remain a huge question mark. But IPL as a league has all the potential to take cricket into that stage for sure. And all the cricket viewers, cricket nations, stakeholders know this already. Because of this IPL window, there might be a chance that other formats of international cricket or world events might get shortened,” concluded Ravichandran Ashwin.

Ravichandran Ashwin will offer his services for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) side in the 2022 edition of the IPL. The off-spinner was picked by the Royals for a sum of INR 5 Crore.