England Twenty20 cricket team captain Eoin Morgan has defended the Indian Premier League (IPL) insisting that playing in the tournament had been hugely beneficial, as he prepares to lead his side in their one-off T20 clash against India at Edgbaston on Sunday.
England great Ian Botham had earlier this week called for the domestic Indian Twenty20 franchise competition to be shut down, saying that it was too powerful and that it compounded the problem of corruption within world cricket.
However, Middlesex batsman Morgan, one of the few current England internationals with IPL experience, insisted that playing in the tournament had been hugely beneficial in his development as a cricketer, Sport24 reported.
The former Ireland international said that certainly his experience of the IPL, he thought wonders of it. He added that he spent four seasons playing with Jacques Kallis, one with Rahul Dravid, Brendon McCullum, Brett Lee, guys he would never have had an opportunity to play with and learn from solely playing at Middlesex, so he is very grateful for that.
Morgan said that the experience of watching the very best go about their business is huge, and added that he thinks it made him a more skilful player both in Twenty20 and 50-over cricket.
Morgan has represented both the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, the report added.