Bhubaneswar, March 29 -- Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is not just a cricketer; he is a great thinker as well. As per Ashwin, Indian Premier League (IPL) has grown so 'huge' that at times cricket itself takes a backseat with players finding it hard to juggle between training and advertisement shoots.

"As a youngster coming into the IPL, I was only looking to learn from the big stars. I did not think about how the IPL would look 10 years down the line. I can say that, having been in the IPL for so many seasons, the IPL is huge," he said during a podcast.

"Sometimes I wonder if IPL is even cricket, because sport takes a backstage during IPL. It's so huge. We do end up practising in advertisement shoots and sets! That's where the...