The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the fastest-growing sports leagues in the world, and has firmly established itself as the premier franchise T20 league in the cricket fraternity. Over the course of two-and-a-half months, the lucrative IPL gets a special window, with several overseas cricketers also prioritising franchise cricket over bilateral games. Legendary Australia batter Matthew Hayden, who currently serves as the batting coach of Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2026, revealed that many overseas players consider the IPL to be even bigger than international cricket.
“Talking to different teams, I feel like the foreign players, particularly the South Africans, us (Australians) to a degree, from New Zealand, they tend to bill this competition like it is bigger than even international cricket,” Hayden revealed, speaking on the ‘All Over Bar The Cricket’ podcast.
Hayden further said that he understands why the overseas players think this way, explaining the intensity of the IPL.
“You could see why they do that. Because there is so much hype around it. When you are here in the IPL, it doesn’t matter whether you’re broadcasting, or just a punter in the streets, or where we are now on the other side of the fence. It just takes over for the entire period of IPL. It is just cricket every day. Sometimes even twice a day,” he said.
Hayden was one of the IPL’s most successful overseas batters in the early years of the tournament. Playing for Chennai Super Kings, Hayden finished as the highest run-scorer in the second edition in 2009, scoring 572 runs in just 12 games.
Presently, a number of overseas players in the IPL boast lucrative contracts. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) Heinrich Klaasen leads the way, earning Rs 23 crore, while Nicholas Pooran earns Rs 21 crore at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Ahead of IPL 2026, Cameron Green was sold for Rs 25.20 crore in the auction, but earns Rs 18 crore due to the tournament’s mini-auction rules.
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