Similarities between the Premier Leagues in India

There's no denying that the Indian Premier League (has an exceedingly large number of followers in comparison to the Pro Kabaddi League , primarily because of the popularity of cricket in India & globally, as well as Kabaddi being a sport indigenous to India. While, Indian Premier League  has many renowned and big faces to make the game popular on TV, PKL only has talent and hard work to depend on. Indian Premier League already has an advantage over Pro Kabaddi League, as IPL was first played in the year 2008, while the first season of Pro Kabaddi League  was played in the year 2014. A great amount of fan following of Indian Premier League on Twitter and other social media platforms also plays a key role in giving the Indian Premier League an edge over Pro Kabaddi League .

Same Format 

Despite Indian Premier League popularity over Pro Kabaddi League, there are many ways in which the two leagues are quite similar. Firstly, there are many common cities that play in the competition for example Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai etc. Secondly, both the tournaments attract a great deal of followers and viewers every season. And last but not least, both have a similar format. Every team plays against another team twice and half of them progress to the next round. While cricket was already popular in the country, other sports like Kabaddi, hockey, football and basketball have gained a lot of recognition and popularity after the trend of premier leagues began in India.

It was for the first time in India that players who were not cricketers also started earning from playing the sport. Though, it is not only about the money. Rakesh Kumar, who attracted the highest bid in the first season of Pro Kabaddi League, when asked about his experience, said, “I have a very good job with the Railways. Money is not the main issue; it is about recognition and respect." In 2014, the first season of Pro Kabaddi League attracted about 435m viewers, which was a great deal considering that the game wasn't very popular and it was the first edition of Pro Kabaddi League. In the same year Indian Premier League  had a viewership of 560 million. Soon, by 2018, the viewership increased by 51% and in the year 2019, it attracted 1.2b viewers.

Similarities between leagues 

Besides the substantial similarities in different leagues, there have also been some coincidental similarities between  Indian Premier League and Pro Kabaddi League  in the last few seasons. In both Indian Premier League I 2021 and Pro Kabaddi League  2022, the team that finished 2nd in the league stage won the competition. Delhi Dabang in PKL and Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League . Both Telugu Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Telangana based teams, finished last. In both the tournaments, Bengaluru was eliminated in the playoffs.