England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow believes the Indian Premier League makes a player better across the formats. He also admits that it is tough to reject the huge money that IPL offers.
Many English players will take part in the IPL 2021. There are discussions doing rounds in the British media that some of them have skipped the tournament and even ECB pulled out some players with a packed schedule ahead.
ECB is also following a rotation policy amidst the pandemic. They rested Bairstow for the first two Tests but he is added to the squad for the third Test. He arrived in India ahead of the Test and completed his quarantine.
“Look, I think it is part and parcel of the game. There are guys who have white-ball contracts and red-call contracts and then there are those who have both. I think guys who have white-ball format will want to go to the IPL and you cannot tell them don’t go. When it comes to rest, if you are asking people to be away from home from Jan 2-March 29 and to be in bubbles, at some point, people are going to need rest, that’s where the coaching staff has decided to give players rest,” Bairstow said during a virtual press conference on Thursday.
“Mentally, we have to stay as fresh as we can. We have been staying in hotels and we cannot leave, it is taxing and it is about staying fresh to produce the best on the pitch. When you are talking about the kind of money the likes of Kyle Jamieson, Chris Morris have got, it is hard to turn it down, it can be hard for anybody to turn it down. I do not believe there are any priorities, if you look at our away record, we have won six of our last seven Tests away from home, these results do not come by prioritizing one format of the game,” Bairstow added.
“I do not know the dates of the IPL playoffs and I do not know the dates of New Zealand Test matches, so cannot say anything at this moment. I am lucky enough to be playing all three formats of the game,” Bairstow replied to the question if he would leave IPL playoffs for the New Zealand Tests.
