New Dehli – After joining the lucrative Saudi-backed circuit, India’s leading golfer Anirban Lahiri stated that the independent LIV series may accomplish for golf what the IPL did for cricket.
The new circuit has generated an acrimonious schism that threatens to dismantle golf, as well as accusations of “sportswashing” Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
Saudi Arabia has been heavily criticized for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 and for its India’s top golfer compares LIV Golf to IPL.harsh treatment of human rights campaigners, including the imprisonment or travel bans of many of them.
Lahiri, who defected despite the massive financial incentives offered to entice players away from the more established US PGA and European tours, stated that LIV will also benefit others along the line.
Lahiri, who finished second at the Players Championship in March, was one of six new recruits – along with world No. 2 Cameron Smith – revealed on Tuesday for this week’s LIV Golf Invitational Boston.
“I am interested in the Indian Premier League and T20. I recall the almost fierce resistance it received when it began,” Lahiri told the Hindustan Times on Wednesday.
However, it had the potential to alter how we consumed cricket.
“Look at it now. The Board of Control for Cricket in India and the players are laughing all the way to the bank. “The broadcasters are ecstatic because their ratings are off the charts,” he remarked.
Lahiri stated that he was a “huge lover” of traditional, five-day Test cricket, but that the IPL-invented Twenty20 format was “so much fun.”
“LIV may be the IPL of golf,” the world’s No. 92 golfer, age 35, remarked.