BIRMINGHAM: Eoin Morgan defended the Indian Premier League as he prepared to captain England in their lone Twenty20 International against India at Edgbaston here on Sunday.

England great Ian Botham used his MCC Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s earlier this week to call for the domestic Indian Twenty20 franchise competition to be shut down, saying it was ‘too powerful’ and that it ‘compounded’ the problem of corruption within world cricket.

But Morgan, one of the few current England internationals with IPL experience, insisted playing in the tournament had been hugely beneficial in his development as a cricketer.

“Certainly my experience of the IPL, I thought wonders of it,” the 27-year-old former Ireland international told a news conference on Saturday.

“I spent four seasons playing with Jacques Kallis, one with Rahul Dravid, Brendon McCullum, Brett Lee, guys I would never have had an opportunity to play with and learn from solely playing at Middlesex, so I’m very grateful for that,” explained Morgan. “The experience of watching the very best go about their business is huge. I think it made me a more skilful player both in Twenty20 and 50-over cricket.”

Morgan, who represented both the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, said: “Being thrown-in in those situations, playing in front of huge crowds, is awesome and a tough experience but one that holds you in good stead down the line.”

With Alastair Cook heavily criticised for his tactics as England one-day captain by the likes of one of his predecessor Michael Vaughan, Morgan has been touted as an alternative skipper come next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

But Morgan, even more than opener Cook, has struggled for runs lately, managing just 198 in his last 10 ODI innings.

“It’s been extremely disappointing. I’ve worked incredibly hard this year on my all-round game and I have been light on runs,” said Morgan.

But England will at least go into Sunday’s match buoyed by their 41-run ODI victory at Headingley, with Joe Root making a hundred on his Yorkshire home ground.

Victory prevented a whitewash, although world champions India still won the series 3-1.

“It was a huge boost,” said Morgan, Middlesex’s one-day captain. “But for us to stand up yesterday [Friday], and for Joe to put in the extremely skilful performance that he did, in difficult circumstances, was exceptional.”

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2014