Hyderabad/Cape Town (South Africa): Former South Africa cricketer Dale Steyn has stated that international cricket will be at the highest level as long as Indian players are not participating in any other leagues except the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Steyn, who is the Sunrisers Eastern Cape bowling coach in the ongoing SA20 virtually spoke to select media persons, a day before the final of the coveted tournament. The summit clash will be played at Newlands in Capetown on Saturday, February 11 between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Durban Super Giants.
In recent times, there has been an emergence of various leagues around the globe. On a few occasions, players have preferred playing in league cricket over opting for a national contract. Such a scenario has triggered a debate over international cricket being eclipsed by league cricket.
"I think we still have international cricket. There is still a massive push to play for your country. India is the biggest cricketing nation in the world. None of the Indian players play in any other league outside the country. So, the biggest drive is to play the Indian Premier League (IPL) and then the rest of the year international cricket. As long as they are doing that, we will find that international cricket is the highest level in terms of what we play and we will still see a lot of that," Steyn said to a query by ETV Bharat.
Dale Steyn, who played 93 Tests and 125 ODIs, also added that league cricket gives an opportunity for players rising through the domestic circuit to showcase their potential in franchise cricket.
"There are a lot of leagues around the world and that gives everyone an opportunity to showcase their skills. It also unearths some incredible talent around the world. We just spoke about somebody like (West Indies pacer) Shamar Joseph. He was a security guard, who was picked up to play for Guyana in the CPL (Caribbean Premier League) and he is able to step up and play international cricket," added Steyn, who has 439 Test wickets.
"Without these leagues, we won't find such talents. They are pivotal in finding extremely good players and giving many opportunities to those who are not going to play international level. It is a great opportunity for guys (players), who are not able to play for their country. So there is a good synergy between league cricket and international cricket."
Reflecting on Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah's recent spell against England in the Visakhapatnam Test, Dale Steyn praised the Gujarat speedster for his ability to bowl toe-crushing yorker.
"I don't think there's any Test bowlers right now who are able to run in and bowl essentially wicket-taking yorkers. To take wickets in Test matches, there are probably a handful of guys who could do that. Trent Boult was one of those, Mitchell Starc maybe. And obviously, (Jasprit) Bumrah," elaborated Steyn.
"I remember saying ages back that a good yorker bowled in India or South Africa or Australia remains a good yorker because you take the surface out of it, doesn't matter where you bowled it. You take the pitch away and I think that's one thing that he's (Jasprit Bumrah) done really well. All round, he's a fantastic bowler. And it's no surprise with his skiddy kind of action that he's got that. He takes wickets on those docile pitches, so he's fantastic," Steyn concluded.
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