The county season begins on Friday. The IPL is on, so many cricket fans are likely to have T20 rather than red ball cricket in their minds and on the screens. But one little detail has placed the County Championship very close to the limelight, if not right into it. And that’s the presence of prominent India players.
India are scheduled to play five Tests in England in the summer. And learning from their decision to not play any substantial practice games in South Africa before their tour of the country earlier in the year – where India got progressively better as they played more cricket – the BCCI has allowed Virat Kohli, among others, to play county cricket ahead of the Test series that starts in August.
Kohli will join Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel and most probably Ravi Ashwin in England. Add out-of-favour fast bowler Varun Aaron to the list and you have a sizeable Indian contingent in the county circuit, albeit at various stages as Kohli and Ashwin are playing in the IPL.
.@ImIshant’s first ball in a Sussex shirt #gosbts pic.twitter.com/XJqICsaTmD
— Sussex CCC (@SussexCCC) April 9, 2018
It’s an amazing turn of events. England, for years, did not take the IPL seriously which resulted in top English players not being provided a clear calendar to feature in the league. But after Kevin Pietersen became an ardent supporter of the IPL and the England board started to see possible benefits to their white-ball game, cricketers from the country were made available for almost the entire duration of the league. This year sees a record 12 England players in the IPL.
Similarly, India have been accused of not taking pre-series preparation seriously. They showed up for the 2011 England tour ill-prepared and were thrashed 4-0. Also, there was next to no training before the South Africa tour.
This year India can’t be accused of not preparing well. So there has been a sea change in attitudes on both sides.
However, Indian players’ presence on the county circuit has not gone down well with some in England. Bob Willis believes a player like Kohli should be “made to suffer” instead of being allowed to improve his game. Safe to say there are other traditionalists who agree with Willis.
The lads have been training outside today ahead of the opening @CountyChamp game on Friday.
— Yorkshire CCC (@YorkshireCCC) April 11, 2018
🎥Here's @cheteshwar1 having a hit at Emerald Headingley!#YourYorkshire pic.twitter.com/nLlZVhH8Cm
Counties themselves are unhappy that they have to make do without top English players for a big chunk of the championship as they are currently in India. Since most of the top cricketers in the world are already at the IPL, it means counties don’t have access to the players they want.
Which makes the presence of Indian players in the championship interesting and some sort of a compensation for the ‘loss’ suffered due to the IPL. Obviously, the Indian players won’t come cheap but at least it will raise the profile of the games from a viewer’s perspective and, hopefully, produce good results for the counties.
India and England cricket boards have maintained a strange relationship over the years, ranging from mild distrust to great bonhomie (as was seen during the ‘Big Three’ takeover attempt of the ICC along with the Australians). The working relation they have reached now seems sustainable and beneficial.
While England cricketers will get to improve their game in the IPL, even if the risk of fatigue and injury remains, Indians can now work towards ironing out their deficiencies on foreign soil not only this year but in future as well.
