The tournament will lack a trademark of previous years when the Indian Premier League starts on Saturday: a clear English taste. This is the lowest amount for eight years, yet ten England players will still be part of the competition. Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood, Ben Duckett are all absent from this year’s IPL for different reasons.
Harry Brook won also be absent not only this year. Brook kicked out his £590,000-a-year contract with Delhi Capitals earlier this month. He cannot play in the IPL until 2028 since he has been banned two years for the withdrawal.
The Brook affair reflects how English cricket’s interactions with the IPL currently mark a new era. Now in a clear third phase, each doubling as a picture of English cricket’s more general aims and views on India at the time.
2008–2014: English extraordinaryness
The IPL immediately undermined English cricket’s long-standing supremacy over the northern hemisphere summer months when it first started in 2008. The early summer tests for England now often collided with the IPL. Previously considering county cricket, international stars might potentially make significantly more money for far less effort in the IPL instead.
England adopted a more austere strategy while other Test countries let their players savor the financial and athletic rewards of competing in the IPL. The England & Wales Cricket Board denied centrally contracted players access to the IPL in 2008. Only one Englishman, limited-overs specialist Dimitri Mascarenhas, showed up in the inaugural season; even then, his county let him travel just two weeks.
One of English cricket’s most embarrassing events resulted from mistrust of the IPL likewise. Less than two months after the IPL started, Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, welcomed Allen Stanford and his helicopter – packed with fake dollar dollars into the Lord’s outfield.
Stanford promised England an annual $20 million winner-take-all contest. The ECB saw this offer as a means of letting centrally contracted cricket players savor IPL-level wealth without really competing in the event. Rather, England was hammered by 10 wickets in the 20/20 for 20 match at Stanford’s private ground in Antigua in November 2008. Three months later, Stanford received a 110-year US sentence for fraud.
The Stanford controversy sharpened English arguments on the IPL. The ECB let centrally contracted players show up for the first three weeks of the competition in 2009. Midway through the 2009 Ashes summer, Kevin Pietersen suffered injuries; his IPL participation helped to explain some of his Achilles issues.
England briefly adjusted their strategy for the IPL in 2010, seeing it as T20 World Cup preparation. One of eight Englishmen in that season’s event, Captain Paul Collingwood said the IPL was essential for England to win the world championship.
Still, England’s arrogant attitude to the IPL quickly came back. Pietersen compared the experience to “speaking to the vicar about gangsta rap” when trying to persuade Test captain Andrew Strauss of the benefits of playing in the IPL.
The internecine battle between cricketer and country resulted from England’s denial of Pietersen’s full participation in the IPL. First Pietersen’s estrangement from the side, then his sacking in 2014, the result was Among England’s few IPL regular players, Eoin Morgan noted a “taboo” regarding tournament participation. The only Englishman playing in the 2014 edition was Pietersen.
England did not only forbid players from showing up for the IPL. They also disparaged performances in the competition, saw little value in international selection, and disregarded how the IPL was the best domestic league in the world. With 340 runs, the most of any Englishmen in the first five seasons, Owais Shah had a great 2012 season for Delhi at an average of 37.8. Shah was still not summoned by England even with a T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka later that year.
2015–23: The friendly hug
Morgan, their captain, was 5,000 miles away as England played their first game following the 2015 World Cup in Dublin. He was instead performing for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Recognising the importance of the rivalry, Strauss, now England’s director of cricket, let Morgan miss the game to play in the IPL. Of the 44 players who qualified for the 2015 ODI World Cup, 38 had IPL experience. England’s team throughout that awful campaign simply had two.
The IPL evolved from annoyance to indispensible as England aimed the 2019 ODI World Cup. England now aggressively compensated players to appear in the competition, although earlier the ECB had discouraged players from doing so. Sam Billings joined by Delhi in 2016 was losing money when considering the compensation he paid to Kent for skipping county play. Strauss chose to pay Billings back using ECB cash.
Following England’s unexpected sprint to the 2016 T20 World Cup final, clubs courted Englishmen. From just four English players showing up in the 2015 IPL, eight were signed in 2017 and thirteen in 2018. England’s fast-tracking him into the side for the 2019 World Cup based on Jofra Archer’s IPL pedigree The success confirmed England’s friendly IPL hug.
England even moved the first Test of the summer from May to June to be more friendly to the IPL. Freeing players to participate most, or all, of an IPL season – the same demand that had resulted in Pietersen being shunned guaranteed that English players were as appealing as they might have been to teams. The ECB’s approach was different from that of various nations, who sometimes tried to prevent athletes from missing local events and signing late IPL deals. Financial reality meant that such opposition had less impact.
With the IPL double as Ashes preparation, a record 17 Englishmen participated in 2023. The ECB even mentioned collaborating with the sports science team of Mumbai Indians to enable Archer fully return to health. Root produced a brilliant hundred on the first day of the Ashes series, having run the drinks for Rajasistan Royals instead of competing in the County Championship.
2024 – now: a fresh cool-down
With Brook’s leaving to Delhi’s great dismay, the English contingent in the IPL this season is the weakest since 2017. This new chapter in England’s relationship with the IPL is unique from the 2015-23 embrace, not a return to the early years of mistrust. The new mindset of England comes rather between these extremes.
Where the ECB had urged players to show up for the IPL, today it is more indifferent. The Test side has clearly taken front stage in English cricket under Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Furthermore there is a sense that the relevance of the IPL to ODI cricket has faded. Changes since the 2019 World Cup – the new white balls swinging more, and the rise in run rates in Test cricket – mean that ODIs now more closely resemble Test matches than T20s.
Beginning in 2023, multi-year central contracts provide English stars more financial stability and inspire more long-term planning. Launched in 2023, the three main leagues—in South Africa, the UAE, and the USA—offer players options to the IPL that, although not quite as profitable, include less time spent away from home. Now the Hundred pays more too: Brook will make £207,000 for summer captaining Northern Superchargers. And, after three England tours to India in 18 months, some players have grown bored of India, even though they would be reluctant to say it openly.
For prominent players, the recent convergence between England’s red and white-ball sides makes the international calendar even more demanding. The opportunity to recover rather than participate in the IPL appeals more and more. Out of the ten Englishmen in the IPL this year, just two, Archer and Jacob Bethell, are strong possibilities for Test cricket in the next year. England players who still yearn for IPL contracts are less appealing to teams because of the declining white-ball performances of the national team.
England’s attitude to the IPL has therefore rebalanced for now. While most supporters will appreciate the adjustment, which reflects how international cricket has been re-prioritised, this new equilibrium may not last.
Though players still earn a considerably smaller percentage of income than in other major sports leagues, IPL pay will surely change with time. Hundred team Indian investors could pressure English players to be available for the IPL. Should the national squad flounder in the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, then an old debate on England’s need greater exposure to the top domestic league will also resurfaced.