"IPL is the biggest but..." - Herschelle Gibbs explains why BBL is better than IPL

While cricketers around the world prefer IPL over any other T20 league in the world, former South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs has said he prefers Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL) over the Indian league.

The South Africa great has plied his trade in both the leagues. In 2008, he was signed up by the now-defunct Deccan Chargers for IPL and was a part of the squad that won the tournament in 2009. Later, he played for Mumbai Indians in the IPL as well. Overall, he played 36 IPL games from 2008 to 2012, scoring 886 runs with the help of six half-centuries.

His journey in the BBL started in 2011/12 season when he joined Perth Scorchers. He played a key role in Scorchers’ march to the final, finishing the tournament as the third highest run-scorer. He had scored 302 runs in seven games. Having played in both the tournaments, Herschelle Gibbs believes BBL is a better league than the IPL.

“Quality of a league is determined with the balance between bat and ball. You always want to have a contest between bat and ball. Opinions will keep going around. The IPL is the biggest but the Big Bash league has more competition between bat and ball,” Herschelle Gibbs told Sports LaunchPad.

Herschelle Gibbs picks Kohli over de Villiers:

Speaking further, Herschelle Gibbs picked Virat Kohli over his former teammate AB de Villiers as a better batsman. The former cricketer stated that Kohli’s desire and hunger for runs especially while batting second makes him different than de Villiers.

“He is a genius when it comes to batting. His hunger for runs and his desire to… especially in One-Day games when they chase, that is where you see the difference between him and AB (De Villiers),” Herschelle Gibbs said.

“AB scored a lot of his hundred batting first, not batting second. That is where Virat is absolute phenomenon. His record is second to none,” he added.