With PSL 8 starting on Monday, February 13, the old debate between India and Pakistan fans about which T20 league is better between Pakistan Super League and Indian Premier League (IPL) will be reignited. While both the leagues have their own standards, it is important to put down some facts ad numbers to reveal which league among the two is bigger and hence more popular. Take a look at our five-point comparison between IPL and PSL.
IPL started in 2008, six months after India won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. However, the work to make it happen was on for years. IPL is the first major T20 league working on franchise model. The world's oldest T20 league is T20 Blast played in England. On the other hands, Pakistan Super League or PSL started in 2016, 8 years after first season of IPL. Needless to say, with IPL's popularity catching up the world over, many T20 leagues came up and PSL was one among them. However, PSL is still smaller in size that IPL on many fronts. (Source: Twitter)
IPL's TV viewership dropped last year drastically and the main reason was league returning after just 6 months. Despite that, 229 million viewers watched the league in just the first week of 2022, as per a IANS report. At the same time, 144 million viewers watched the whole of PSL 7 in Pakistan, as per Sports Mind Media. (Source: Twitter)
The IPL prize money in 2022 was Rs 20 crore which was won by Gujarat Titans, the championship winners. It is also true that IPL has the biggest prize money among all T20 Leagues. Even the runners-up get Rs 12.5 crore. The Men's T20 World Cup champions England received approximately Rs 13 crore as prize money. In comparison, the winner os PSL gets Rs 3.4 crore while the runners-up get Rs 1.5 crore. These numbers are from last year. (Source: Twitter)
At the mega auction in February 2022, over Rs 500 crores were spent by 10 IPL teams. There are no team purses involved in PSL as league works on draft system. (Source: Twitter)
IPL and PSL are based on two different formats to pick teams. PSL has a draft system while IPL works on auction system. To compare the salaries, let's look at the the most costliest players from both leagues. In PSL, the highest players category is platinum. Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi feature in this group and get around Rs 1.30 crore. After IPL 203 Mini Auction, England's Sam Curran became the most expensive buy ever in the history of IPL when he was bought for Rs 18.50 crore by Punjab Kings. (Source Twitter)