England batsman Eoin Morgan believes his spell in the IPL will stand him in good stead in the Tests against India.
Morgan familiar with India's stars after IPL stint
England batsman Eoin Morgan believes his Indian Premier League experience will stand him in good stead for the forthcoming for the Test series against India.
Morgan came under scrutiny when choosing to play for Kolkata Knight Riders rather than play domestic first-class cricket at the start of the season.
It put him under pressure for his Test place but scoring 193 against Sri Lanka for the England Lions in his opening first-class innings of this campaign earned him the nod over Ravi Bopara.
Now Morgan, who also played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in last year's IPL, hopes to benefit from that experience in India, starting with the first Test at Lord's next week.
Ethos
He said: "I learnt a lot from playing with and against the Indian players in the IPL.
"I chatted with and played with Rahul Dravid at Bangalore and watching him train and bat, and his ethos of hitting thousands of balls, was very interesting.
"Maybe it will also help having faced some of the Indian bowlers in the IPL, facing Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh maybe. You pick up their action more than anything else.
"Again it was a similar advantage to when playing (Sri Lanka paceman) Lasith Malinga before. Small bits here and there help.
"From my point of view, I found when I came back from India I was striking the ball a lot further.
"I had six weeks of hitting old, grey balls rather than rock-hard Duke balls and there was that bit more whippiness in my game.
"I'm striking the ball a bit better."
Morgan believes he is in a more confident frame of mind and better equipped for Test cricket now almost a year after scoring his maiden century in the five-day game against Pakistan at Trent Bridge.
He said: "I think I feel more relaxed rather than anything else. We are 12 months down the line and I've hit 12-15,000 balls between now and then.
"It has given me a lot more confidence and I have some scores under my belt and performances that have led me to where I am now."
Intent
Morgan believes it will send out a big message of intent if England defeat the world number one-ranked team, and they can replace them if they win the series by a two-match margin.
He said: "I think it will be a big statement if we do win this series. I think we are in every position to challenge them.
"The momentum we've shown the last year and a half is good, we've played some great cricket, and the challenge is maintaining it.
"The bigger test is going to be against the best side in the world.
"It will be down to whoever produces the best skills on the day. We can see where Tests are won and lost in sessions."
