England and Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Ben Stokes said that the England team will benefit from many of their players being constantly exposed to Indian conditions in the upcoming IPL 2021 edition when the time comes for the T20 World Cup 2021.
The ICC T20 World Cup 2021 will be played in India in October-November this year and many of the England players are involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) giving them valuable experience of playing at venues, which may potentially host the T20 World Cup matches as well.
This year, there are 14 England cricketers contracted to play IPL, including white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Liam Livingstone, and Dawid Malan.
"Yes — the percentage of English players in the IPL has probably grown in the last five or so years. Not only is that great for the individual but it is also great for the players involved in the England set-up; it gives them experience in the most high-profile competition in the world but not only that — you are under constant pressure to perform,” Stokes told 'Sky Sports'.
"You've got billions of people watching you and you've got the pressure of the franchise on you. Being constantly exposed to that is a huge benefit to us as a team, especially with the T20 World Cup coming up at the end of the year in India; it's a great chance for the English guys to get more experience in these conditions," Stokes said.
Ben Stokes was excited to be back playing the IPL in India after the IPL 2020 was held in UAE, and also hopes that fans will be allowed in the stadiums at some point in the IPL 2021 edition.
"It's great for the competition that it's come back to its roots after taking place in Dubai last year, which was an achievement in itself. Fingers crossed that fans will be allowed back in at some point during this IPL because they are a huge part of this game and why we play.
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It was an amazing feeling to have fans back in the grounds on our (England's) recent tour of India — even though 100 percent of the crowd were against us! Being back in the thick of that atmosphere was amazing!” Stokes said.
"Last year was obviously disappointing. Yes, we finished the bottom of the table but I think it's not as simple as that. We ebbed and flowed with our performances throughout the season: we had some great ones followed by some pretty poor performances,” Stokes said about RR’s last-place finish in IPL 2020.
"But every year is a clean slate and we are really excited about the prospects of what we are able to do on the field this year," he signed off.
(PTI inputs)
