Shivnarine Chanderpaul wants more West Indians in the IPL to spark interest back in the Caribbean © AFP

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies batsman, believes the Indian Premier League (IPL), has a far superior foundation to Allen Stanford's 2020 in the Caribbean. Chanderpaul, representing Bangalore but sitting out "after a decade", also felt that more West Indian players needed to be brought over to foster interest back home.

"The IPL is much better organised than Stanford 2020. Stanford 2020 is not paying anything. IPL is actually recognising the players and paying them," he told the Hindustan Times. "Without players, the sport cannot go on. This is a lot bigger with more international variety at the highest level."

Chanderpaul strongly advised more West Indian representation in the IPL. "You need people from everywhere. And to get the West Indian public more interested, you need these players out here and want them to be playing," he said. "Right now, the West Indian public is not paying much attention to IPL. Even though they have a few players here, not all are playing."

Chanderpaul, who has played just two games for Bangalore, felt it was "strange" to be sitting on the bench. "I have been actually out to play cricket and am sitting out. This is happening after a decade," he said. "You still have guys who have not played. One has to understand that everyone will have to get an opportunity."

Thought Bangalore have struggled to gain momentum, Chanderpaul said he was enjoying his time. "It has been an experience by itself. I never expected the tournament to be this big. We [Bangalore] have been struggling a bit but we have also been playing good cricket in the last few games and managed to pull one off on Saturday night. Winning is a habit as much as losing is. Hopefully, we can get into that habit of winning."