GILES: IPL BIG REASON BEHIND ENGLAND’S SUCCESS IN WHITEBALL FORMATS

LONDON: The Indian Premier League has been extremely beneficial for us, says ECB managing director Ashley Giles, who feels English cricketers’ presence in the lucrative T20 tournament has helped the national team in achieving the number one rank in white-ball formats.

Earlier this week, England’s star player Jos Buttler said that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had never asked him to skip the popular T20 event to be available for the Test series against New Zealand, which is set to clash with the final stages of the IPL.

“In my briefings with the players, I have encouraged players to think very carefully about what their programmes are. I have not directed them,” Giles told Sky Sports’ ‘The Hussain and Key Cricket Show’

“We aren’t forcing either way. The IPL isn’t going anywhere. It has extreme benefits to us. From this group here, I think, we have 12 of the 16 players going to the IPL. Years ago we found it very difficult for players to get into the IPL to experience that tournament. Now all of our players are in high demand and it’s probably the big reason why we are number one in world in both white-ball formats,” Giles said.

There are 12 England cricketers, some with million dollar contracts, playing in the IPL. The players include Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer for Rajasthan Royals, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran for Chennai Super Kings, Tom Curran for Delhi Capitals and Dawid Malan for Punjab Kings.

The IPL is slated to begin from April 9 with the final scheduled to be played on May 30.