Pakistan pace bowling legend, Wasim Akram said that the quality of bowling in the Pakistan Super League was much superior to that in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Akram, who has served as a bowling coach for IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and is the current chairman and bowling coach of PSL side Karachi Kings, was comparing both the franchise tournaments when he said although the IPL has always been superior to the PSL due to broad audience and long history, bowling department is one side where the PSL is way ahead of its counterpart. Wasim Akram Birthday Special: 5/21 vs Australia and Other Memorable Performances by the Legendary Pakistan Pacer.

Akram was speaking with former Pak batsman Basit Ali on the latter’s YouTube channel when he was asked to compare and differentiate both the PSL and IPL by virtue of having been part of both. “PSL is the second biggest tournament in the World of T20 after IPL. But to compare PSL with IPL is not fair,” said the former pacer, who turned 54 on Wednesday. “PSL has just started and it was the fifth edition which was played in Pakistan, whereas IPL is a mature tournament which was being played from 11 to 12 years. There’s a lot more money.”  IPL 2020 to Be Held Outside India? BCCI Looking at All Possible Options.

Wasim Akram Talks to Basit Ali

He reasoned that his point was based on answered he received after speaking to many foreign players, who have had the experience of playing in both the franchise tournaments. “The answer I got from them was the quality of bowling in PSL was much better than IPL. In all IPL teams, there is at least one bowler who can be attacked, according to the top foreigners,” said Akram.

But despite ranking the bowling of PSL better than the IPL, Akram said that Pakistan Super League was yet to unearth any local batsmen, who have gone on to dominate international cricket. The quality of the local batsman that have come up through the PSL is not up to the standard of the IPL, he said although he picked Peshawar Zalmi’s Haider Ali and Zeeshan Ashraf of the Multan Sultans as two batsmen, who can make it big in international cricket.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2020 10:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).