Former England cricketer David Lloyd, currently in India for a two-week IPL commentary stint, believes it’s high time the England and Wales Cricket Board works with its India counterpart to ensure English players are in a position to participate in the tournament in greater numbers.
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The English county season starts around the same time the IPL begins and England also have international fixtures scheduled during the same period.
It means many players are unavailable to participate in the tournament and only a few, such as Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara, feature after receiving clearances from their respective county teams.
It’s a situation Lloyd hopes can be avoided in the future, with a possible window created for the IPL.
However, he feels both the England and Indian boards must be willing to ‘compromise’ for the benefit of everyone involved.
“We have to find a solution to this situation. Sit all the concerned parties in one room and work out a system that is beneficial to everybody involved. If we can have a five-week window for the IPL, that would help,” he was quoted as saying by iplt20.com.
“But our domestic season spans from April to September and for that window to be created, the domestic season would have to be halved, which is not going to happen.
"So, you have to find a compromise. Our biggest problem is that we are busy playing elsewhere while the IPL is on. The tournament is in full flow here and the England team is in the West Indies.”
The 68-year-old also said that there are quite a few England international players who could benefit greatly if given a chance to showcase their skills in the Indian league.
“Alex Hales at the top of the order, (and) even someone like Joe Root who is an accomplished cricketer in any form, will definitely benefit."
"Other players who I think would be box office hits are Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes,” he added.
“These two guys could fit in well into any franchise.
“Eoin Morgan has already been playing in the IPL and I think he should have done much better than he has.”