England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan recently revealed why the English players were allowed to participate in the IPL 2019 while the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 was so near.
IPL 2019 was played between 23rd March and 12th May 2019 while England hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 from 30th May to 14th July 2019. Despite the global tournament was near, a total of 11 English players were allowed to feature in the IPL 2019, where some of them were crucial members of the national team.
Recently, Eoin Morgan revealed that the former England captain and former director of England cricket Andrew Strauss planned to send the English players to participate in the IPL 2019 ahead of the CWC 2019. The English limited-overs captain hugely supported it as he felt that it would provide the better World Cup preparation than any international bilateral series, majorly due to the event’s atmosphere.
Morgan recently told Harsha Bhogle on ‘Cricbuzz in Conversation’, “Playing in IPL was part of Strauss’s plan. I pushed him to make that call because in international bilateral series, it’s so difficult to replicate the pressure that’s there in Champions Trophy or the World Cup.”
“He asked me what’s different? One, you play as an overseas player so there’s huge expectations. If you play in IPL, there’s different pressure and different expectation. Sometimes you can’t get away with it and you have to find a way to deal with it.”
While the English all-rounder Ben Stokes didn’t achieve much success in the IPL 2019 serving for Rajasthan Royals (RR), Jonny Bairstow highly impressed with his bat for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Jos Buttler also shined with the bat for Rajasthan Royals. Another Rajasthan Royals cricketer Jofra Archer also bowled well in that tournament.
It takes you out of your comfort zone: Eoin Morgan about the IPL
Morgan, who has already played 52 IPL matches and can return to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the IPL 2020, believes that the cash-rich Indian T20 league takes the players out of their comfort zone which helps the players to grow up.
Morgan added, “It takes you out of your comfort zone. It is completely beneficial to play in IPL. That was a big mindset shift for us. And I hope Indian cricket is alright with us because we are using it as a vehicle to try and grow players.”
In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, though the hosts England faced some tough hurdles, Eoin Morgan-led English team finally managed to secure England’s maiden Cricket World Cup trophy after beating New Zealand in the final of that tournament on the boundary countback rule. Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler etc. all these players successfully performed in that tournament.