Representing Country More Of A Big Deal Than Winning The IPL: Ottis Gibson

In the wake of South Africa’s dismal performance in World Cup 2019, their head coach Ottis Gibson has once again sparked the country vs Indian Premier League (IPL) debate.  The debate has been there in the cricketing world for quite some time now with quite a number of players preferring the lucrative IPL over representing their nation.

During the campaign, South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis had said that the team-management had tried and wanted to stop Kagiso Rabada from playing in the IPL. Du Plessis’ comments came after Rabada’s struggles to get wickets. And now Ottis Gibson has reiterated du Plessis’ sentiments, saying that international cricket remains the pinnacle and representing the country is a bigger deal than winning IPL.

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“I would like to think international cricket remains the pinnacle. It’s clearly not the most lucrative, but Test cricket is still the best cricket for me. In white ball cricket, I would like to think everyone wants to win a World Cup. You feel more satisfaction than if you win the IPL.

“I would like to think representing your country is more of a big deal than winning the IPL,” Sport24.co.za quoted Ottis Gibson as saying.

South Africa had a disastrous campaign at the World Cup as they failed to progress ahead of the group stage. Barring the win against defending champions Australia, they did not have much to celebrate. They finished seventh in the ten-team competition with just 3 wins from 9 games. The IPL did make South Africa’s attack a little bit weak.

The IPL took place just ahead of the World Cup and pacer Dale Steyn picked an injury during the tournament. He was named in the World Cup squad but was later ruled out after he failed to recover. Rabada had also picked up a niggle during the IPL and did not look his usual self.

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Ottis Gibson further questioned whether there is a need for every country to have a T20 league.

“Is there a need for every single country to have a T20 league? Because the T20 leagues just drag more and more players out of international cricket. A T20 league in Canada when Canada doesn’t even have first-class cricket, is that good for the game? I don’t know,” he said.

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