Matthew Wade became the 16th Australian cricketer to get his hands on the covetous Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy. The wicketkeeper-batter, who was part of the Gujrat Titans unit, joins the likes of Australian legends Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Watson, among others. (IPL 2022 full coverage)

Wade achieved the feat months after helping Australia win their maiden T20 World Cup in UAE. Sharing his thoughts on the same, the 34-year-old said winning the cash-rich league is as close as winning as the World Cup. 

As per a report in cricket.com.au, “It’s a close to winning a World Cup as you can get,” Wade he told SEN Radio on Monday morning.  

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Meanwhile, the clash between Gujarat and Rajasthan Royals at Narendra Modi Stadium, which the former won by seven wickets, witnessed a world-record spectators of 1,04,859. The previous record was 93,013 during the ICC World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2015. 

Reminiscing the euphoria, Wade called the experience unforgettable. “It was a crazy atmosphere and something I’ll never forget – 104,000 people, I didn’t think I’d ever play in front of that many. 

“(It was) a different kind of feeling to a World Cup where you’ve spent a few years trying to build a team to get there but this one has got all the glitz and glamour on it, and they do it differently over in India and they put on a show,” said the wicketkeeper-batter. 

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Wade, however, was not very impressed with his individual performance but hailed the team for putting up a splendid show. The 34-year-old could only manage 157 runs from 10 encounters at an average of 15.70.

“(I was) a little bit disappointed with my tournament but as a team we’ve played unbelievably well, we’ve had four or five guys that have really got going,” he said.