“The ambition still is to play Test cricket, absolutely, but given where I’m at the moment, I think the IPL is the best thing for me”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
England ODI captain Eoin Morgan has announced that he will be part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction on February 16 after he failed to resurrect his Test career.
Morgan opted to miss last year’s IPL season since three Test spots were up for grabs. However, with those spots now filled, Morgan is returning to play in the star-studded tournament.
“I think they [Test ambitions] have been scaled down a bit probably since the start of our summer,” Morgan said. “I suppose the opportunity I gave myself in missing the IPL last year and potential carrot of the end of the road was … I think it was three positions available at the start of our summer, and I didn’t manage to get any of them. So since then it has been scaled down a bit. The ambition still is to play Test cricket, absolutely, but given where I’m at the moment, I think the IPL is the best thing for me.”
Morgan also noted that his teammates need to start playing in more domestic Twenty20 tournaments outside of England.
“I think it’s nice to have one ear to the ground, both playing Big Bash and potentially IPL,” Morgan said. “It’s very useful because again, cricket is changing so much at the moment, it’s nice to have new fresh ideas. And again, opportunity not only for myself but for other English cricketers to go and play, I think they should take it with both hands. It’s a great experience, and like the Big Bash it’s a huge opportunity to put yourself under pressure and bridge that gap between our domestic game at home and the international game.
“I think death bowling’s a big concern for a lot of teams. Given the best death bowlers in the last five years probably have been guys who have unique actions, actually go against the grain of being traditional. And I think a lot of people, a lot of countries, suffer from that problem. The pedigree of bowlers that we have here, obviously everybody prioritises Test match cricket, and they haven’t had the opportunity to come and play. But given if the opportunity was available, I think it would be really good for them to hone in on skills that they wouldn’t normally get to do.”
However, Morgan believes that England’s ODI squad is not suffering from a lack of exposure.
“I wouldn’t say it has hampered our one-day cricket,” he said. “I think the basics of one-day cricket have remained very traditional for the first 35 overs of the game with the two new balls coming in. And again, looking at our batting order down the line, five, six, seven, eight, it’s pretty strong. And given that three of us have played in overseas tournaments has probably helped that. I think a balance of both does work, but the opportunity has to come.”