“IPL or County cricket in order to play test matches”! This has been the exact dilemma faced by a lot of English players in recent times. The most recent example of this is England’s flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, who is uncertain whether to join the IPL or not. Buttler had previously hinted that despite receiving a lucrative offer from the Kolkata Knight Riders, he was eager to be in England’s test arena.
Current England coach Trevor Bayliss has suggested Buttler to accept the IPL offer so that it leads to his overall development as a player. Bayliss, the former Knight Riders coach is perusing Buttler to sign up for the prestigious league. “If the opportunity arises and Buttler is not in the Test team and that IPL window is a possibility, I’d be all for it,” Bayliss said recently.
“It’s something we’ve spoken about. Personally, I’d think it would be something similar along the lines of Adil Rashid. “If Jos is in the Test team he’ll be playing Test cricket for England. He definitely wants to play more Test cricket for England which is great. But obviously Jonny’s there at the moment,” said the England coach.
Opening up on Jonny Bairstow’s keeping, Bayliss said, “Certainly his wicketkeeping is a work in progress, but I think our other wicketkeepers are as well. Plenty of other wicketkeepers around the world have started off their international careers, not in the greatest fashion but ended up pretty decent keepers. It’s only fairly early in Jonny’s wicketkeeping career. “He works very, very hard at it and I’d expect over a period of time for him to get better. Both Jonny and Jos work terribly hard on their keeping. I’d expect over a period of time for him to get better.”