IPL the biggest domestic competition, standard of cricket is high: Kane Williamson

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson on Monday opined that the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the biggest domestic tournament in world cricket owing to the presence of a brilliant competition among players and the high cricketing standards.

Williamson, who presently is part of Sunrisers Hyderabad, would have made his sixth IPL season appearance in 2020 had the 13th edition of the league not been postponed by the BCCI owing to the coronavirus pandemic. BCCI is still in search of a safe window later in the year to stage the IPL.

"The initial interest was obviously watching the IPL and seeing how big it was, it is the biggest domestic competition, T20 cricket being relatively new, what I saw was an opportunity to gain experience and learn," Williamson told Ravichandran Ashwin on the spinner's YouTube show titled 'DRS with Ash'.

"For us, to see the passion for cricket in India is an amazing thing, it is a brilliant competition and there is a high standard, a lot of other countries have followed suit to start their leagues," he added.

Williamson also outlined the differences in leading an IPL franchise and the New Zealand cricket team. Williamson had led the SRH in 2018, scoring 735 runs at 52.50 with eight half-centuries that season while also guiding the team to the finale where they lost to Chennai Super Kings.

"It is quite different to lead New Zealand and an IPL franchise, initially I did not know what to expect, but like I mentioned it is an Indian competition so you are coming into quite a different culture, I was trying to keep an open mind, there is a lot of experience in all of the groups, it was an enjoyable season to lead the SunRisers Hyderabad," Williamson said.