English Test skipper Joe Root has expressed his desire to participate in the Indian Premier League. Last year he made himself unavailable for the tournament. He said he “would love” the opportunity to take part in the IPL. England won’t have any international commitments during the April-May window which might make more English players available for the tournament.
“It would be a great opportunity,” said Root. “Ultimately I’m an England player and that comes first.If things fall into place, who knows, but for now my main focus is doing the best I can when I play for England.” Till now no English Test captain has played in the Indian Premier League.
In the previous year, England’s home season fixtures have often prevented the players from being available for the cash rich tournament. But in the last tournament, players like Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Jos Buttler had missed the ODI series in England, and the ECB had allowed them to stay in India due to better match practice there.
Stokes was bought at a whopping 1.6 million which also saw him become the most expensive player in the player’s auction.
“There’s a lot of cricket to come in the rest of this year and before next year’s IPL starts,” Root was quoted as saying by BCC Sport.
“I have to have those conversations with the right people, people like [England coach] Trevor Bayliss and [director of cricket] Andrew Strauss. I’d love to have the opportunity to go and play in it, but you have to have a realistic view.”
If England sets goals for winning the World Cup in their country in 2019 a trend set by India in 2011 and followed by Australia in 2015 the management knows that sending players to India for the IPL might help them pick brains of some of the best cricketers and coaches over the world. IPL has been touted as the biggest T20 tournament all across the globe.