‘Chris Gayle (the West Indies captain, and a perfectly OK player but not anyone you’d drive through the night to watch) texted me the other day to ask why I’m not playing and I said “I can’t”. He just sent dollar signs in the next text message.’ - Kevin Pietersen in 2008
England’s enfant terrible of one time and former captain Pietersen was a big supporter of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He tried very hard for his compatriots to get excited about the cash-rich league, but he received little or no support.
In fact, Pietersen could not help much because at the time, or before the launch of the IPL, he was caught in the crossfire of a frosty relation between the then England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke and then IPL chairman Lalit Modi. As a result, several key English players did not turn up for the IPL in the initial years of the tournament.
Some that did turn up did not last the full distance because of commitments back home. A lot of top players like Graeme Swann and James Anderson went unsold at IPL auctions. Pietersen and all-rounder Andrew Flintoff were the big box-office draws back then because of their flamboyant approach to the game.
Hence Gayle, who was then the West Indies captain, sent Pietersen a text enquiring why he was not at the inaugural edition of the IPL. Pietersen and Flintoff did make it to the IPL in the 2009 edition and later made several sporadic appearances in the tournament.
Pietersen’s love for IPL became a hotly debated topic in England as some of his teammates were left out of the tournament. Pietersen’s relations with his teammates deteriorated as a result, as he fell out with the ECB, then head coach Andy Flower and Test captain Andrew Strauss. He was in and out several times from the English Test squad and even retired from the white ball formats. Finally, the Pietersen saga ended with him being completely dropped from the English squads as his relationship with first Strauss and then Flower became beyond repair.
The underlining aspect of this break in relation with the powers that be for Pietersen was the IPL!
"I always had sympathy with KP over the IPL," Strauss told a Sky Sports podcast. "I understood what a big event it was with all the best players playing there together and huge amounts of money on the table as well."
At the time, Australian and South African players were in great demand for several reasons. The prime reason being that the IPL was played at the fag end of the seasons in both those countries and hence their stars would be available for the full season. West Indies’ players were the powerhouses in the T20 format, too, as individual entertainers.
The English players, on the other hand, had international commitments in May and June back home. The other major reason was that the Aussies and South Africans formed the core of the top white ball performers at the time. England, apart from a few, were still not the feared commodity in the white ball formats.
But when England finally turned its attention completely to the white ball formats, the IPL franchises also sat up and took notice of their growing prowess in coloured clothing.
Also read: IPL Auction 2023: The most expensive uncapped players
2015 World Cup debacle
The big change happened with the arrival of Eoin Morgan, the former Irish international, as the messiah of English white-ball cricket. Morgan was rushed into a full-time role before the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But after the disaster of the 2015 showpiece event, Morgan demanded a free hand. He also wanted players to play the formats in a particular way, i.e., aggressively.
One key aspect of the Morgan game plan was that the important English players should be allowed to play the IPL. This was quite a big change for English cricket - they had always been protective of both their domestic cricket and their home international season.
Morgan had to convince Strauss who had taken over as managing director of England cricket team, and he found a ready ally in the former captain.
"Playing in the IPL was part of Strauss' plan. I pushed him to make that call because, in international bilateral series, it's so difficult to replicate the pressure that's there in Champions Trophy or the World Cup. He asked me what's different? One, you play as an overseas player so there are huge expectations. If you play in the IPL, there's different pressure and different expectations,” Morgan told Harsha Bhogle on Cricbuzz in Conversation.
Morgan had clear ideas about why playing in the IPL helped his players. His submission to Strauss worked wonders. As a result, England’s players became overnight superstars of the white ball game.
"Sometimes you can't get away with it and you have to find a way to deal with it. It takes you out of your comfort zone. It is completely beneficial to play in the IPL. That was a big mindset shift for us. We’ve had Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer being stars in the IPL. That has been a big change in mindset for us. Jonny Bairstow has done well recently. Hopefully, there will be more. And I hope Indian cricket is alright with us because we are using it as a vehicle to try and grow players,” Morgan added.
Also read: 'Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes' is an incisive commentary on mental health and sport
The idea snowballs
England’s approach to the IPL became part of a major discussion in the corridors of power at Lord’s, the headquarters of the game there. England had been confrontational in its approach to the tournament before the 2015 ODI World Cup debacle. But once Morgan laid out his vision, it was clear that the English players would get a free hand to play the tournament.
Strauss who had been part of the group which took on Pietersen, primarily because of the talk around the IPL, became the driving force in changing the mindset. English players started missing ‘non-essential’ internationals against Ireland which were scheduled for the back end of the IPL. Slowly there was also talk of a separate window to enable English players to take part in the tournament in India.
“The schedules allow our players to play most of the tournament. We’re always looking at workloads and how best to manage our players, but I think we also have to accept that for us as an international team to fight the IPL is probably not a smart move going forward,” Strauss told Sky Sports.
A part of Strauss was still worried about the impact the move to open the calendar for the IPL would have on England’s Test form. But England had consciously decided to prioritise white ball formats with the 2019 ODI World Cup, scheduled to be held at home.
Strauss insisted that his approach was not at odds with what it was during his playing days or when Pietersen was in full flow. "I was saying to KP at the time, 'listen, mate, this is the situation. You can't opt in or out of international cricket. You've got obligations to England and hopefully there are gaps where you can play in the IPL as well'."
Thankfully, Strauss and Morgan managed to get past the initial reservations to help put together a crack white-ball set-up. Archer, Morgan, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Alex Hales were only a small part of a long list of English players who became much in demand not just in the IPL but across franchise T20/T10 leagues around the world.
Hence it was hardly a surprise that Sam Curran, Stokes and new boy Harry Brook were top draws at the IPL auction this time around. It was also a sign of a changing power equation in world cricket as the balance has shifted from Australia and South Africa to England in the white-ball formats.
Kevin Pietersen again
But the naysayers are never too far off. England’s continued rise in white ball cricket, affected their Test match aspirations. They had a continued lean run in the traditional format, leading to former captains David Gower and Michael Atherton blaming the IPL for the losses, especially to their traditional rivals Australia.
That is when Pietersen stood up again.
“It is stupid. You can’t blame the IPL for the demise of Test cricket in England. It's crazy. I've commented on it quite a lot. It's the system, it's the county cricket system which is poor. So there's no blame.
“It's crazy to blame the Indian Premier League because if you have a look at the Test team, there's only maybe (Ben) Stokes, (Jonny) Bairstow and (Jos) Buttler who play the IPL... Hardly any of the Test team players play the IPL... So how can you blame the IPL? You can't blame the IPL. It's crazy,” defended Pietersen.
After having blamed IPL for their Test fortunes going down, England won the T20 World Cup recently and now hold both white ball world titles!
Bazball time
What has also changed is the way they play Test cricket, with their new red ball head coach Brendon McCullum encouraging them to play aggressively. England are scoring at a break-neck speed in the Test matches, too, and have changed the old game completely with their approach.
Bazball is the term that describes this new approach to Test batting by England, named after their new red ball head coach. England’s fortunes have changed with them winning nine of the 10 Tests this year under Stokes and McCullum.
All is forgotten now for the traditionalists back home in England as they are ruling the roost in the game in every format.
England’s cricketers are now the world’s biggest superstars across formats, and there is nothing to complain about. For once, England are the trendsetters in the way the game is played and the man who led the way, Pietersen, will probably get little or no credit.
Time may be ripe for Pietersen to reply to Gayle's text message from 2008, asking what happened to the West Indies and their missing band of entertainers in the IPL.
That would be a whole different story altogether!
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