Eoin Morgan has revealed via Twitter that he is withdrawing from auction which are scheduled on 12 and 13 February in Bangalore. Morgan have played for Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers in previous IPL seasons.
Morgan’s name – one of 11 England players initially listed for the auction – is no longer in the mix now as he decided to skip this year’s IPL by prioritizing county cricket over IPL in order ti boost his return to Test team.
The Irishman last played Test cricket in early 2012, when he appeared for England in a 3-0 humiliating defeat against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.
The 27-year-old Middlesex batsman since then has continued to impress in the shorter formats, so much so that he performed captain’s duty when Cook was injured or rested in ODI. He as recently as last month in Australia was England’s most reliable batsman in their limited-overs series defeats against Australia this winter.
England’s management have made it clear, after their Ashes whitewash, that all potential Test players will be expected to demonstrate their skills in county cricket before the first of this summer’s two series – against Sri Lanka in June.
Any involvement in the seven-and-a-half-week IPL in April and May would obviously have impacted on availability for Middlesex which is Morgan’s county team. Morgan was also recently named Middlesex’s new limited-overs captain for this season.
His apparent readiness to play county cricket follows a troubled week for the England and Wales Cricket Board, who on Sunday issued a lame statement justifying their reasons for parting company with England’s highest run scorer Pietersen.
In that press release, the ECB cited an issue of “trust” as the main reason for moving on from England’s South African born batsman.
Meanwhile, Test match specialist Ian Bell and another potential Ravi Bopara are among the England-qualified players still in this week’s IPL auction.
Morgan, this morning, tweeted: “I would like to thank @IPL for accepting my request to withdraw from this year’s auction. Good luck with the tournament.”
I would like to thank @IPL for accepting my request to withdraw from this years auction. Good luck with the tournament.
— Eoin Morgan (@Eoin16) February 10, 2014
