A year ago, he didn’t have a domestic team and things were looking grim. Then came the upswing

Shashank Kishore22-Jul-2022In February 2021, Deepak Hooda contemplated stepping away from cricket. He had just been suspended by the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) following a run-in with the captain, Krunal Pandya.He was in a spot. His IPL career hadn’t yet taken off, and the pandemic threatened to make things worse, with the uncertainty it brought to the domestic calendar. Memories of Hooda’s big hitting in his debut IPL season, 2015, which had brought a flood of “Hurricane Hooda” headlines, were starting to fade.Hooda needed a helping hand. He found one in Irfan Pathan, the former India allrounder and Baroda alumnus and captain. Irfan had backed Hooda when he left Baroda, and called the BCA’s decision to reprimand Hooda in the wake of his spat with Pandya “shocking and disheartening”.Related

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” time ” (Your time will come) Irfan said to Hooda.In February this year, when Irfan scrambled to find an adequate mobile data signal while on the road, to watch Hooda being handed his India cap by Rahul Dravid in Ahmedabad against West Indies, Hooda’s time had indeed come.”It was like my debut again,” Irfan says. It felt that way because he has mentored Hooda since the youngster moved to Baroda as a 15-year-old when his father, Jagbir, an officer in the Indian Air Force, was posted there in 2010.Hooda’s roots are in Haryana and he represented that state in the Under-16s. He was also eligible to play for Services (which comprises players who or whose families serve in the army, air force or navy) but decided to try his luck in Baroda and made it into the side.Now, his exiting that team has coincided with a remarkable change in fortunes. An India call-up came in February, following his first season with Rajasthan, his new domestic team. That was followed by a breakout IPL season with Lucknow Super Giants, where, having patched things up with Pandya, he played alongside him in the line-up; Hooda made 451 runs at a strike rate of 136.66. Last month he made first century for India, in a T20I against Ireland. Recently the BCA made public their wish to see him back playing for them.In the absence of senior team-mates, the upcoming limited-overs series in the West Indies, and possibly one in Zimbabwe after that, could set Hooda up nicely to be in the fray for India’s T20 World Cup side. Apart from offering the flexibility of being able to bat up and down the order, he also bowls handy part-time offspin.His 451 runs this IPL put Hooda among the top ten run-scorers for the season•BCCIAt the IPL, Gautam Gambhir, Lucknow’s mentor, was impressed with Hooda’s desire. “Gauti told him, whatever happens, you will play all the games,” remembers Vijay Dahiya, the assistant coach at the franchise. “Deepak was pleasantly surprised, because it’s the kind of backing he hadn’t got in the IPL.”The turnaround started in June 2021. Hooda had been a part of every IPL season since 2015 but had faced over 100 balls only once in a full season. Not getting opportunities to prove his game smarts as a proper batter bothered him.Signing for Rajasthan was something of a move born of desperation. Their current form was far from his mind. And he wasn’t thinking about the turmoil in their set-up either; different factions have claimed to be running the game in the state, and there has been financial mismanagement, which has forced the BCCI to form an ad-hoc committee to administer cricket.”He wanted game time, and we wanted a batting allrounder,” Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) secretary Mahendra Sharma says. “He wasn’t fussed about money. He didn’t ask for [the kind of] fee that professionals do. He said, let us mutually benefit each other. In return, we were happy to have someone who could lend their experience to our junior cricketers.”Before the domestic season began, the Pathan brothers helped Hooda get his mind back on cricket. They put together an intensive camp for him. “The idea was to first get his mindset right,” Irfan Pathan says.”Yusuf is the kind of person who would see a positive even in the direst situation. Having someone like that helped. One of us ensured we were around. If I was away with media commitments, we’d speak regularly on the phone, while Yusuf would take him through his training.” On such days, Irfan would also analyse video footage of Hooda in training.Look ma, new headgear: Hooda shows off his India cap on his international debut, in Ahmedabad in February this year•BCCI”I told him, if you are playing and training expecting something in return, it’s never going to work,” Irfan says. “You have to train your mind in a way where you’re giving your best without expecting anything in return. If something comes your way, great. Else, keep at it.”Every day, for two months, Hooda would be in the nets by 7am sharp. A two-hour conditioning session would be followed by multiple gruelling batting sessions. On days he was to train on black-soil surfaces, he’d train at the police grounds. On days he was to bat on red-soil wickets, he’d head over to the Moti Baug grounds. The training sessions were so in-depth that there was even a throwdown specialist, brought in by Irfan.”He started becoming calmer because this set routine didn’t give him time to ponder about his future,” Jagbir says. “I could see he was agitated and he was making an effort to do better, but until he reached out for help, he wasn’t in a good frame of mind. As parents we tend to feel sorry for our child. But all he needed at that time was the confidence, and I couldn’t be more thankful to Irfan and Yusuf.”Irfan began to notice a marked improvement by the time the domestic season came around. “He always had the range of shots, but we wanted to maximise his stay at the crease.”His off-side play was a bit of a hindrance. He needed to keep his hands relaxed and not jab. His hands needed to be more fluid. And when he started playing with loose hands, he could access different parts of the ring.”We also made adjustments to his stance, depending on the format. He worked on using the crease to maximise scoring opportunities in different areas, hitting boundaries along the ground by finding gaps – we simulated all of this.”Hooda started his first-class career with a hundred in his first game, and the next in this one, his sixth, against Karnataka, where he made 142•PTI Hooda kick-started the domestic season in style, finishing as the second-highest run-scorer in the Mushtaq Ali T20s. His 294 runs in six innings came at a strike rate of 168 and Rajasthan made the quarter-finals. In the Vijay Hazare one-dayers, though his overall numbers were slightly underwhelming, he made a sensational 109 against favourites Karnataka in a pre-quarter-final.It happened to be a game several IPL talent scouts were at. On auction day, as many as six teams raised their paddles before Hooda was signed for Rs 5.75 crore (about US$725,000) by Lucknow.”He’s a keen student of the game,” Dahiya says. “He wants to get better every day. There is purpose to his training, the hunger is immense. But sometimes, he could become too intense for someone who is keen to do well. He can be hard on himself at times.”The shorter formats can be unforgiving, so we had to speak to him a few times to let go and be less intense. The thing with such a mindset is, when things are going well, you aren’t going to find too many issues, but when things don’t come off, that is when it could get tricky. But he’ll learn, he has a tremendous work ethic, and it’s all part of his development as a player.”Hooda’s remarkable turnaround doesn’t surprise Irfan, who says he should serve as a role model for players who don’t break through early.”Two years ago, Hooda himself wondered if the India cap would come. Today, he is a shining example of someone who has proved if you accept your shortcomings and make a conscious effort in working on it, that’s half the battle won.I am excited at what he can possibly offer to the Indian team. He’s just 27. If he offers India six-seven good years, he has the potential to achieve a lot more.”

Former cricketers showered praise on Joe Root after he scored his 26th Test century and went past 10,000 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jun-2022Joe Root walked off to a standing ovation at Lord’s after guiding England to a five-wicket win, not before reaching his 26th Test century and crossing 10,000 Test runs with the same shot. Here is how the cricket fraternity reacted to his achievements on social media.

ROOOOOT! Unbelievable

— Sam Billings (@sambillings) June 5, 2022

Fast bowler shows he’s not content with stand-in status after stealing the show in Karachi

Matt Roller21-Sep-2022Pakistan is the spiritual home of left-arm fast bowling so the team-sheets in Tuesday’s night opening T20I seemed incongruous: England picked three left-arm seamers in their side to Pakistan’s none.Along with Reece Topley, who was unavailable for the first game of the tour due to an ankle niggle, Sam Curran and David Willey will both travel straight from Pakistan to Australia ahead of the T20 World Cup, but the left-armer who will fly home to the UK from Lahore in two weeks’ time was the star of the show’s first act.Luke Wood had known for a couple of days that he would make his England debut in Karachi. After getting the nod from Jos Buttler, he told his parents, then had to check his dad would keep the news quiet – “he’s quite keen on Facebook, he likes to post things”. Buttler duly presented him with his cap in the pre-match huddle.Buttler’s injury meant that Wood had the familiar feeling of being captained by Moeen Ali – they won the Blast together in 2018 when Wood was on loan at Worcestershire – but the sense of occasion was not lost on him as he stood at short midwicket. He had played at the National Stadium for Quetta Gladiators earlier this year, but the crowd was then capped at 25% by Covid-19 restrictions.”The start got delayed because they were moving behind the bowler’s arm so you got a full chance to take it in,” Wood said. “I remember being stood at midwicket thinking ‘this is proper’. It was so loud. You know they love their cricket but it was pretty special. To have that on your debut makes it even better – it’s like ‘wow, this is international cricket’.”The crowd were vocal throughout the first half of Pakistan’s innings but died down as England’s bowlers dragged the game back. They fell collectively silent when Wood took his first international wicket, ripping Mohammad Nawaz’s off stump out of the crowd before leaping and punching the air in celebration.He finished with figures of 3 for 24, conceding only 12 runs from his two overs at the death. His second and third wickets were less spectacular – both caught in the deep, one off a full toss and the other off a slower ball – but were just as important in restricting Pakistan.”Your first wicket is the one that stands out in your memory and thankfully it was a good one,” Wood said. “That’s how I always play my cricket: there’s always a smile on my face and that’s something I really pride myself on. It just shows my love for the game. It was just about trying to enjoy my debut as much as I could.”Wood is well aware of Pakistan’s tradition for producing left-arm seamers, having idolised Wasim Akram growing up – “him and Ryan Sidebottom were my two” – and had the chance to pick Wasim’s brains at the PSL earlier this year: “That was pretty cool. I’ve always wanted to meet him.”He is also keen to play his part in busting the “huge myth” that left-arm seamers are only picked to provide variety. “Teams can play four right-armers but can’t play four left-armers? I’ve just never understood that,” he said.Related

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“Obviously England have a lot of good left-arm fast bowlers now so the options are there, but also, we’re all different: different heights, speeds and attributes. Just because they’re all left-arm, it doesn’t make a difference.”Wood earned his place in this squad through an impressive domestic season, playing in the final of both English short-form competitions. He took 14 wickets for Lancashire in the Blast and 10 for Trent Rockets in their victorious Hundred campaign, regularly hitting 90mph/145kph and bowling aggressive new-ball spells.He is one of several England players in an unusual situation during this series, one mirrored in Australia’s tour to India: even if he finishes as the leading wicket-taker on either side, he will not be part of their World Cup squad, barring an injury to one of England’s first-choice seamers.But he knows that strong performances will come in handy down the line. “We had a big chat before this series started about the fact it’s not just about this series, but going forward. Being pretty new into the squad, it’s about trying to perform and showing what I have. Everything changes so quickly.”And after missing out on an England cap in the Netherlands earlier this year – he was the only unused squad member during their ODI tour – Wood is not taking things for granted. “I would have loved to have made my debut there,” he said, “but at the same time, I feel like because they don’t just give them out, you feel you have earned it. In a way, it makes it feel more special.”

Despite losing key players before and during the tournament, King, Allen, Powell and Gordon stepped up to prove the experts wrong

Deivarayan Muthu01-Oct-2022Not many gave Jamaica Tallawahs a chance to qualify for the CPL 2022 playoffs, let alone make the final, including former West Indies spinner and now commentator Samuel Badree. Every time Tallawahs’ Pakistan import Mohammad Amir would bump into Badree, he would remind Badree of his pre-tournament prediction and Tallawahs’ determination to prove him – and several others – wrong.After leading Tallawahs to an unlikely title – their third overall and first since 2016 – Rovman Powell also expressed his hurt at the “disrespect” that was directed at his team in the lead-up to the tournament. Having said that, there was also a good reason behind experts not giving Tallawahs a chance before the start of the tournament.Related

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In 2020, Chris Gayle had exited Tallawahs in acrimonious fashion after a spat with Ramnaresh Sarwan. In the same year, Andre Russell called Tallawahs the “weirdest” team he has ever played for and it was only a matter of time before he would link up with Trinbago Knight Riders.The star-studded Knight Riders and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, who had won CPL 2021 and the inaugural 6ixty this year, were the pre-tournament favourites, with Barbados Royals emerging as the dark horses. All these three teams had most bases covered while Tallawahs’ line-up after the draft appeared top-heavy and lacked a solid left-hand batter. Tallawahs also picked just one experienced seamer in Amir and punted on South Africa’s Migael Pretorius and local seamer Nicholson Gordon, who had not played an official T20 before CPL 2022.They had only one proper wristspinnner in Sandeep Lamichhane, but he was released from the tournament without playing a single match in the wake of his suspension by the Cricket Association of Nepal. After somehow sneaking into the playoffs, Tallawahs surmounted tremendous odds to become the first team to win the CPL final after having finished fourth in the league stage.ESPNcricinfo LtdIn the final, too, the odds were stacked against them even before a ball was bowled. Amir, who had grabbed a chart-topping nine wickets in the powerplay this season, was ruled out with a groin injury he sustained during the second qualifier. Then, his replacement Pretorius, who had leaked 24 runs in two powerplay overs, jarred his back while attempting a catch in the outfield and hobbled off the field.That Tallawahs won despite losing two key bowlers was down to the (Jamaican for being fearless) of their Jamaican boys. On the big night, when the title was on the line, Brandon King, Fabian Allen, Gordon and Powell all stepped up to make up for the absence of Gayle and Russell, who were both central to their victories in 2013 and 2016, and tear open a portal to Tallawahs’ future.Powell was overshadowed by Russell for much of his early career. When he first burst onto the scene, Kolkata Knight Riders’ CEO Venky Mysore described Powell as a junior Russell. During his first IPL stint with KKR in 2017, he was picked as a back-up allrounder for Russell. But in the last one year, he has emerged out of Russell’s shadows and carved out his own identity as a gun T20 player.ESPNcricinfo LtdPowell consciously worked on his technique against spin with Robert Samuels, the elder brother of Marlon, adding the sweep and the use of the feet to his repertoire. His improved game against spin was vital to Tallawahs’ strong start in the tournament and it was fitting that he was there at the finish along with King, another Jamaican star.Like Powell, King has also been bothered by spin in the past, but he ruthlessly took down Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Joshua Bishop in the final. After belting Mujeeb through the covers against the turn, King lined up the inexperienced Bishop for four fours in the 12th over that put Tallawahs well ahead of the game. King then rushed Tallawahs home with a flurry of boundaries against Mujeeb as well, completing his homecoming from Guyana Amazon Warriors in grand style.King’s 75-run third-wicket stand, off just 35 balls, with Powell thrilled many Jamaica fans, including Powell’s school-mate and sprinter Yohan Blake.

Happy for my school friend Powell @Ravipowell26 keep on doing it. Big up yourself king @bking_53 love the way you keep your head.

— Yohan Blake (@YohanBlake) October 1, 2022

Oppositions have been able to push back from positions of struggle while batting and India’s top four are not as prolific as they used to be

Sidharth Monga24-Dec-20222:29

Jaffer: ‘Intent of Indian batters disappointing’

India might still win this one. In fact they are still favourites to win this Test because their in-form batters are yet to come out to bat, but the third day’s play in Mirpur was like a teaser in which what once were faraway clouds slowly get darker.This is a team in transition. Their main batters are past their best, they rarely get a pick of their first-choice bowlers, and they don’t have a fit captain. In this year alone, India have had three captains in seven Tests. There is a revolving door in the bowling department because of fitness issues and the odd debatable selection.This team is not that ruthless clinical side that used to rarely ever let an advantage go. In four Tests this year, India have been in situations they used to close out matches from with eyes closed, but they have lost three of those and are 45 for 4 chasing 145 in the fourth.Two worrisome trends made a comeback in Mirpur on day three where India effectively had Bangladesh at 26 for 6 in the third innings thanks to their 87-run lead in the first innings.Now it’s not like India never conceded partnerships in their golden run, but they always kept a lid on the scoring rate. It used to feel like they automatically knew when to bowl dry and when to attack more. There are many examples of this, not least the Johannesburg win in 2017-18 when Hashim Amla and Dean Elgar added 119 for the second wicket in a chase of 241, but they never ran away, going at little over two an over. In Bengaluru in 2016-17, after getting bowled out on day one, India showed similar control bowling against Australia on day two.The worrying sign is that in this year, teams have been able to push back from positions of struggle and push back at a pace that India have not been able to arrest.Defending 239 in Johannesburg in the first Test of the year and 211 in the second, India lost in 67.4 and 63.3 overs respectively. They went searching for wickets instead of just bowling well for long spells, which brought them success earlier. At Edgbaston, England chased down 378 in 76.4 overs at nearly five an over.Litton Das led Bangladesh’s fightback•Associated PressIn Mirpur, too, it was not so much that Bangladesh added enough runs to make a match out of it, but the pace at which they did so. That, and some good fortune as it showed in Virat Kohli missing three-and-a-half catches, is partly the nature of counterattacks, but when Bangladesh did counterattack it didn’t look like they were having to take a lot of risks.Overall, India bowled well in the third innings. In fact they produced false responses more frequently than Bangladesh did in the fourth, but during the two partnerships that got Bangladesh 106 runs in 20.4 overs they often failed to bowl to their fields, conceding easy boundaries despite in-and-out fields.It didn’t help that India didn’t have a third spinner, which seems like a case of having misread the pitch. Axar Patel bowled a 19-over unbroken spell, and India rarely ever could have two spinners in tandem.On another day, one of the four catches sticks, and we are not talking of this, but that might just cover up the other small cloud on the horizon. The batting of this team in transition has needed Nos. 5 to 8 to bail them out more often than they or their leadership will find acceptable.Since the start of 2020, India’s top four have averaged 31.58; only South Africa, Bangladesh and West Indies have worse numbers. In the matches that India have played over this period, the opposition top 4 has averaged only marginally better, which points to the conditions being tough where India have played.After a point, batters can do only so much if the bowling is unerring in difficult conditions. That is the nature of Test cricket. Now unless India’s bowlers have been way better than the opposition’s over this period, the batting cloud is not as dark as it might seem.It still is a cloud. When India dominated Test cricket from 2016 to 2020, their top four averaged twice the opposition’s top four, a little over 50 as against a little over 25. So unless the bowling has dipped dramatically over the last two years, the batting has. Kohli is averaging in the 20s since the start of 2020, Cheteshwar Pujara is barely in the 30s, and only Rohit Sharma is in the 40s.There has been a dramatic dip in the averages of India’s top four, and a small rise in the opposition’s top four in this period as compared to the four golden years before that.A transition has to be delicately handled, and India’s World Test Championship hopes also rest on winning four out of five Tests, including this one. Usually you would think India are the favourites to make the final considering the remaining four Tests are at home, where they have lost just two Tests in the last 10 years. However, this batting transition and the occasional bowling profligacy might make their fans more nervous than they should be given their record at home.

The India opener was in outstanding form between 2016 and 2021, but his performances haven’t been as good this year

Vishal Dikshit30-Nov-20222:52

Why is Dhawan struggling to score quickly?

In the third ODI in Christchurch, Shikhar Dhawan gave the impression that he was trying to be busy early on. He charged down to his fifth ball and went over point for four, and then danced down to smash his 11th for six over long-on. After four overs, 36-year old Dhawan was on 15 off 16 while his 23-year old opening partner, Shubman Gill, hadn’t scored after eight deliveries.But Dhawan’s fast start did not last. He scored only 10 off his next 20 balls and ended the powerplay with a strike rate of just under 70. He was eventually dismissed for 28 off 45 balls.Related

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As the regular stand-in ODI captain for Rohit Sharma, Dhawan is the first-choice opener as India begin to gear up for next year’s World Cup at home. He has also played the most games – 34 – for India since the 2019 World Cup and been exceptional for the most part. But in 2022, Dhawan has slowed down and his strike rate does not reflect the kind of approach white-ball formats are moving towards. In fact, they are headed in opposite directions.Dhawan’s ODI strike rate in 2016, 2017 and 2018 was around 101 and in each of the next three years it hovered around 91, which is still pretty good. But over 19 innings in 2022, his strike rate has fallen drastically to 75.11. That number is the lowest for an India batter in a year since 2008, when Rohit scored at 72.57, but ODI cricket was an extremely different game 14 years ago.ESPNcricinfo Ltd Dhawan’s slowdown cannot be attributed to conditions and opponents he has encountered this year. In 2022, Rohit has a strike rate of 107.54 in six innings while Gill, who is currently the frontrunner for the back-up opener’s spot, is going at 102.57. Even Shreyas Iyer has scored at 97.64 at No. 3.One reason could be that Dhawan has chosen to play the anchoring role – while his experienced colleagues like Rohit and Virat Kohli took frequent breaks from ODIs to focus on the T20 World Cup – because the difference between him and Gill in this series in New Zealand was stark. Dhawan’s strike rate in the powerplay during the three-match series was 60; Gill’s was 74.28. And in 2022, Dhawan has been scoring at 68 in the first ten overs, while Gill has gone at 89 in similar conditions.In recent years, England have redefined batting in ODIs and their openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow have shown there’s no need for an anchor, unless you encounter challenging conditions. Among openers to have faced at least 200 balls in ODIs this year, Dhawan’s strike rate is 12th in a list of 15.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt’s not as though the drop in Dhawan’s strike rate has resulted in an increase in his average either. While he was striking at 91 in 2020 and 2021, he averaged above 58 in each of those years, but this year his strike rate has dropped to 75 and his average has also fallen to 40.Until very recently, Dhawan was among the best ODI batters. During a prolific five-year period from 2016 to 2021, he was extremely consistent and extremely quick. His overall strike rate of 98 was among the top ten.ESPNcricinfo LtdSince the start of this year, Dhawan’s average and strike rate are lower than the combined average (nearly 46) and strike rate (92) of all the other openers that India have tried. Openers of other teams don’t average as much as Dhawan this year – 34.34 – but they score at a much faster pace – 85.21 – which is the way of the modern game.Whatever the reason for Dhawan’s slowdown, the spotlight on his strike rate could intensify this weekend, as he travels from New Zealand to Bangladesh for another three-match ODI series. Perhaps the reunion with his regular opening partner Rohit, and the infusion of Kohli and KL Rahul’s experience into the playing XI, will allow him to play a more attacking game. With intense competition for spots in India’s ODI batting order, Dhawan might need to speed up to keep the other contenders at bay.

The ECB’s resistance for the IPL has vanished in the last few years, with Englishmen now playing key roles at almost every franchise

Matt Roller12-May-2023It’s 6.15pm at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the evening before Royal Challengers Bangalore play Kolkata Knight Riders. The teams are training on either side of the square and in between them, two men are chatting – one in KKR’s training kit, the other in an RCB polo.James Foster, KKR’s assistant coach, is catching up with Mo Bobat, who has come to India for a week in his role as a performance consultant for RCB. Foster has regularly worked with England as an assistant coach in the last three years, while Bobat is the ECB’s performance director.David Willey walks past them and towards the changing rooms, having finished his pre-match net. When he re-emerges, ball in hand, he wanders over to RCB and England white-ball analyst Freddie Wilde and the pair discuss plans for the following evening: how should Willey attack Jason Roy?Related

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On the other side of the square, Roy is waiting to bat in the KKR nets, having started his session slightly later than his team-mates because of media duties. “To play here, in front of these crowds… it’s incredibly special,” he said, the night before hitting a 22-ball half-century. “The passion over here is second to none.”Back home in the UK, KKR are being supported remotely by Nathan Leamon, Wilde’s predecessor with England. James Bell, a psychologist who works regularly with England teams, is available to RCB’s players remotely, before joining them during their stretch of five consecutive away games.Welcome to the IPL, England-style. Eight years ago, after England failed to reach the quarter-finals in an abject ODI World Cup, only two of their players – Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan – made an appearance in the IPL, and contributed 332 runs and six wickets between them.Now, there are Englishmen playing key roles at almost every franchise – both on and off the pitch. “It’s been a big shift,” says Moeen Ali, who has played in each of the last six IPL seasons. “Before, you had some English guys playing but definitely not as many as you would do now.”On Monday, Chris Jordan became the 17th England player to have been under contract at some stage in IPL 2023, a record for a single season. Nine of the league’s ten teams have fielded at least one Englishman over the last six weeks; the only exception, Gujarat Titans, have one as their director of cricket.After the 2015 World Cup, in which England were eliminated before the quarter-finals, Strauss noticed a huge contrast in IPL experience between England’s squad and the four semi-finalists (Australia, India, New Zealand and South Africa). It confirmed his belief that the benefits of spending two months alongside the world’s best white-ball players were competitive, as well as commercial.Players were actively encouraged to enter the IPL auction, even though it meant missing two months of County Championship cricket in the build-up to the first Test series of the summer. Where going to India had once counted against players in the selection, IPL form was now actively considered: Jos Buttler won a Test recall in 2018 after five consecutive half-centuries for Rajasthan Royals.And gradually, the ECB’s desire for players to experience the IPL has been reflected financially, too. Since inception, centrally-contracted players were deducted a percentage of their annual retainer for every day they spent at the IPL; in the last few years, that arrangement has quietly been dropped.Now, England’s status as double world champions – the first men’s team to hold the 50-over and 20-over World Cups simultaneously – means that franchises are desperate to tap into their white-ball culture. “It just shows that we’ve been quality for a number of years in international cricket so, most of the time, teams are going to want to pick your players in the IPL,” Moeen says.Three of the top five buys at December’s auction were English (Harry Brook, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes) and while none of them have had the tournaments they envisaged, Brook scored this season’s first century and Curran was entrusted with the Punjab Kings captaincy when Shikhar Dhawan was unavailable.ESPNcricinfo LtdBut now, even players who are not guaranteed selection in a full-strength England team find themselves in demand. “It is great to see even guys like Phil Salt step up, take his opportunity, start making some scores – guys that aren’t always regulars on the international scene start making their way in this tournament,” says Root, who himself has not played a T20 international for four years.And now, the transition extends beyond the pitch. Take Bobat, for example. “I’ve worked with Mo for three years now,” says Mike Hesson, RCB’s director of cricket. “In white-ball cricket, England have without a doubt made a good transition. Obviously in 2015 – which I was part of [as New Zealand coach] – England were not at their best.”And we certainly saw from a New Zealand perspective, how England changed. I saw it first-hand, with Brendon [McCullum] and Eoin being great mates and sharing a lot of similarities. That flowed into white-ball cricket, and now it’s a big part of their red-ball stuff. Mo has been a part of that journey, in terms of how that transition has happened. We’re lucky to have him.”Where once Australians dominated among IPL backroom staff, Englishmen are gradually replacing them. After working closely with the franchise while Jofra Archer was returning to fitness, Ben Langley left the ECB to become Mumbai Indians’ global head of sports science and medicine earlier this year.The fear, in the medium term, is that others could follow him. The expansion of IPL franchises overseas means that staff are signing year-round contracts; it is only a matter of time until players follow suit, with informal discussions already underway in some cases.RCB’s performance consultant Mo Bobat with their spin-bowling coach S Sriram•RCBIn the ECB’s financial statements for 2022-23, the “emergence and growth of global franchise leagues and pressure on player wage inflation in a highly competitive market” is identified as a “major risk”. The board is in the process of overhauling its central-contract system, recognising that the T20 leagues’ pulling power is not going anywhere.But if IPL franchises trust Englishmen much more, so too do England trust franchises. Both Archer and Stokes were cleared to travel to India for the 2023 season, and the ECB has managed their injuries with their respective franchises throughout this campaign; Rob Key, the managing director of men’s cricket, believes the competition is “only good” for players to be involved in.Perhaps the most influential Englishman in the IPL is among the least heralded. Vikram Solanki left his role as Surrey’s head coach 16 months ago to become Titans’ director of cricket: in their first season, Titans won the IPL; in their second, they are the league’s pace-setters.Solanki personifies the shift in English cricket’s relationship with the IPL. Once, England were laggards in T20 cricket; now, they have never more influence at the format’s cutting edge.