KP was right in saying England players should play IPL: Michael Vaughan

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes that England have the best chance to win their first ever 50 overs ICC major this year. They will be hosting the ICC Champions Trophy commencing on June 1. He feels that the current English team is perhaps the most balanced English side of the recent times in limited-overs cricket. He also expressed his satisfaction over the participation of English stars in the Indian Premier League.

He added that playing in the IPL has been a great experience for the cricketers thus far. Michael Vaughan went on to say that Kevin Pietersen was absolutely right when he had called for more participation of the England players in the cash-rich league. He believes that the experience of playing the IPL will help them get better in the limited-overs format of the game.

“Playing in the IPL is a tremendous experience. It should’ve been done years ago. Kevin Pietersen was right. He was completely right in terms of saying the England players should’ve been allowed to play a lot more. I think it’s going to move England on, I think it has. Most of the one-day team have been given this opportunity to play in (Australia’s) Big Bash and now they’ve got the IPL,” quoted Michael Vaughan as per the quotes in cricket.com.au.

Currently, some of the top English cricketers like Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Tymal Mills and Sam Billings are on the roster for the mega event. Vaughan can only see the positives coming out from their participation in the IPL this year.

“I think it just furthers their white-ball education. I can’t see anything but positives. England players should be involved in these types of leagues and if it means they miss a couple of Ireland games, I’m all for it,” he added.

Talking about the Champions Trophy, he feels that the English team did well to reach the finals of the last two editions of the tournament despite not having the best team. But, going into the event this year, they have a very settled lineup in hand. Hence, they will only fancy their chances to lift the silverware this year.

“The last two Champions Trophies here we’ve not had a great team and we’ve managed to sneak to the final by default, really. Whereas this team is a really good team. They’ve certainly got all the tools and ingredients to win, but you don’t just win on paper. Joe Root said yesterday ‘this is a great chance for England to win a tournament’. So they all know that they’ve got enough. It’s just whether they can deliver,” quoted the former skipper.

Commenting on the defending champions India, Michael Vaughan believes the team will surely participate in the tournament despite all the brouhaha that is surrounding their participation due to BCCI-ICC tussle. “They’ll fancy their chances, so they’ll certainly be here,” he conceded.