England ODI captain Eoin Morgan set to play in 2015 IPL season
Perth, Jan 29 - England One-Day International (ODI) captain Eoin Morgan on Thursday made himself available for selection in the 2015 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction as he took a big step towards accepting that his days as a Test cricketer are over.
Morgan, 28, chose to opt out of the 2014 season in a bid to resurrect his Test career. However, after not being picked in the Test side since then, the England batsman has once again decided to play in the cash-rich league.
"Yeah, I can confirm that I will be in the IPL auction this year and hopefully I will be picked up," Morgan was quoted as saying by iplt20.com.
Though the left-hander still dreams of playing Tests, his ambitions have diminished to a certain extent after being overlooked in the last year and that he feels going to play the IPL this year would be better for his career.
"My ambition is still to play Test cricket, absolutely, but given where I'm at at the moment I think the IPL is the best thing for me," he said.
"I think they've (Test ambitions) been scaled down a bit probably since the start of our summer. I gave myself the opportunity last year in missing the IPL was the potential carrot at the end of the road."
Morgan has been a hit among the IPL franchises over the years. First, Royal Challengers Bangalore and then the Kolkata Knight Riders benefitted from Morgan's innovative and uninhibited strokeplay.
"I think there were three positions available at the start of our summer, and I didn't manage to get any of them. So, since then it has been scaled down a bit."
The England ODI captain also feels that playing in the top T20 leagues around the world will expose him to more ideas and strategies as a leader, which he can bring into the national team.
"I think it's nice to have one ear to the ground, playing Big Bash and potentially the IPL," he said.
"It's very useful because cricket is changing so much at the moment that it's nice to have a few fresh ideas."
Morgan also wished that more English cricketers would embrace the IPL because he felt the tournament does a great deal for the growth of a cricketer.
"It is an opportunity not only for me but also for other English cricketers to go and play. They should take it with both hands," he said.
"It's a great experience, and like the Big Bash it's a huge opportunity to put yourself under pressure and bridge that gap between our domestic game at home and the international game."
The immediate conclusion is that Morgan and Ravi Bopara, who will also join the auction, believe they have no chance of being picked for the three-Test series against West Indies that follows swiftly on from the World Cup.
That tour clashes with the IPL in its entirety, meaning that no Test players will be able to even have a short stay in India, as has been possible previously.