"I sense jealousy there" - Former India cricketer takes a dig at Graeme Smith over his harsh comments on ILT20

Former India batter Virender Sehwag reckons that a bit of jealousy could have been the reason behind Graeme Smith's scathing comments on the International League T20 . According to Sehwag, while the UAE league features a number of international stars, the SA20 has failed to attract too many big names.

The ILT20 got underway on January 11 and will conclude on February 9. On the other hand, the SA20 began on January 9 and will end of February 8. A few days back, SA20 commissioner and former Proteas captain made some critical comments on the ILT20 and opined that the tournament wasn't good for the game.

Reacting to Smith's assessment, Sehwag took a dig at the South African legend and said on the YouTube channel Snitch:

"I sense jealousy there because we have a plethora of international stars coming in, whereas their league is starved of such international players. I can understand his (Smith's) pain, but this is even better for the ILT20. You get to see established players here along with some local UAE talent who are rubbing shoulders with legends and experienced pros."

Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Dinesh Karthik and Rashid Khan are some of the prominent international names who are a part of the ongoing SA20 season.

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What Graeme Smith said while criticizing ILT20

Speaking at the captain's day press conference in Cape Town, Smith opined that leagues like ILT20 are not good for the sport of cricket and need to be managed because there's not enough investment in local cricket. He said:

"We see ourselves as very different to the ILT20. We're a South African league, with a majority of South African players, and our ultimate goal is to benefit South African players.

"We've been built up against ILT20, so it's very difficult for me to not come across like I'm bad-mouthing them, but I do feel like a league like that is not good for the game; that there's that many international players required to build a team; there's no investment back into local cricket. That is a challenge for the world game and something that needs to be managed going forward," he added.

The SA20 is currently in its third edition. Sunrisers Eastern Cape emerged victorious in the first two editions.