Dale Steyn doesn’t hold back, neither on the field nor away from it. The 37-year-old South Africa quick, who held the No.1 Test bowler’s spot for a number of years, is now in the final leg of his esteemed career, but continues to be at his fiery, candid self.

A couple of days after criticising Simon Doull for his on-air comment over Steyn having a “mid-life crisis”, the quick, in an interview during the 2021 PSL, has given a frank take on the money-rich IPL’s priorities, claiming that the “cricket gets forgotten”.

Expectedly, Steyn’s comments on the IPL, which he feels is less rewarding than playing in leagues such as the PSL, did not go down too well with Indian fans, who had spent years watching the South African bowler ply his trade for different IPL franchises.

 

In a YouTube show called Cricket Corner, Steyn, part of PSL team Quetta Gladiators this year, spoke about how talks of a player’s paycheque take precedence over knowledge and experience in the IPL.

“When you come to like a PSL or the Lankan Premier League, for that matter, there is an importance on the cricket. I have only been here [PSL] for a couple of days and I have had people in and out of my room, just wanting to know about where I have played and how I went about it. Whereas, when I go to something like the IPL that kind of gets forgotten and the main topic is how much money did you go for in this IPL? That’s just me being brutally honest.”

Steyn, who made himself unavailable for IPL 2021, further said that “playing in other leagues was slightly more rewarding as a player. In IPL, there are so many big squads and so many big names, and there’s so much emphasis on maybe the amount of money that players earn that somewhere along the line, the cricket part kind of gets forgotten.”

Steyn’s comments gained considerable traction on Twitter, inviting the wrath of Indian fans.

https://twitter.com/karthik_jammy/status/1366654766630137868

https://twitter.com/YNWA_AR/status/1366678560002351106

https://twitter.com/lordofrinnegan/status/1366659273208422403

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Dale SteynGlobal T20 Leagues