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IPL success can help Stokes and England – Root

England stars Joe Root and Ben Stokes

Joe Root believes England will benefit from Ben Stokes' recent success in the Indian Premier League when they host the Champions Trophy next month.

The most expensive signing in this year's IPL auction, all-rounder Stokes initially impressed with the ball for Rising Pune Supergiant before making his first major contribution with the bat on Monday as he struck a match-winning 103 not out – his maiden T20 hundred – against Gujarat Lions.

That innings impressed Root, who will have Stokes as his vice-captain when he leads England's Test team for the first time against South Africa in July.

Speaking at the official launch of the new England Cricket kit at the New Balance Flagship Store, Oxford Street, Root said of his international team-mate: "I think he's played brilliantly throughout. He was obviously under a lot of pressure going into the tournament, with the amount of money they've paid for him, and one thing that Ben's always done throughout his career is respond well to pressure and to expectation.

"The more you put on him, the more responsibility you give him, the more you get from him. And with him becoming vice-captain of this side now, in the Test arena, I think you'll just see more and more of that, and that's really exciting.

"He'll bring that confidence back and that will help him coming into the start of the [English international] summer and the Champions Trophy."

England have had eight representatives in this year's IPL, with Chris Woakes, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Chris Jordan, Sam Billings and Tymal Mills also featuring in the tournament.

Morgan, England's one-day skipper, said: "A big part of our progression is playing in some of the world's best tournaments.

"This year at the Big Bash we had a record seven players play at different franchises, at the IPL it's eight – we have one in every team.

"Going into any world tournament, you have to try to either set the trend or be up with the trend and I think being exposed to the best competitions in the world allows us to get the most out of ourselves and also compete against the best."

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