Dale Steyn fully backtracks; says 'IPL nothing short of amazing' after praising Pak league

South Africa's speedster Dale Steyn termed the Indian Premier League (IPL) as 'nothing short of amazing' in his career as he apologized for his views expressed on the marquee T20 league earlier. Dale Steyn had previously compared IPL to Pakistan Super League (PSL) & Lankan Premier League (LPL), opining that the former was less rewarding for players and that performance was replaced by money. Taking to Twitter, Dale Steyn insisted that his words weren't meant to degrade or compare any of the leagues. 

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Earlier, in an interview with Cricket Pakistan, Dale Steyn had shared his experiences of playing in the Indian Premier League and compared the tournament with Pakistan Super League and the Sri Lankan Premier League. The 37-year-old speedster claimed that he noticed an "importance on cricket" was visible among the players in PSL and Sri Lankan Premier League. On the other hand, he described IPL as a tournament where cricket often gets “forgotten” as the main topic is-- "How much money did you go for in this IPL?" It is important to mention that Dale Steyn had made himself unavailable from the IPL 2021 to play in the PSL 2021 season after which the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise excluded him from their list of retained players.

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Steyn also received a lot of backlash from Indian fans for his remarks on the IPL. Several reactions poured in as fans slammed the South African for demeaning the mega league. Steyn, who plays for Islamabad United in the ongoing PSL 2021, has received support from teammate and fellow quick Hassan Ali amidst severe criticism. The Pakistani pacer took to Twitter and shared a photo with Steyn and mentioned that he is his favourite in the caption.

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Rahane's response to Steyn

Indian Vice-Captain Ajinkya Rahane responded to South African speedster Dale Steyn's controversial PSL Vs IPL comment asserting that IPL gave a platform to a lot of players both domestically and internationally to 'express' themselves. Dismissing the importance given to Steyn's comments, Rahane, who was addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad, said that he would instead like to comment on the upcoming India Vs England Test. "IPL gave the platform to express ourselves, to alot of Indians and overseas players. I don't know what Dale Steyn said, but we're here to talk about the Test match," said Ajinkya Rahane.

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