"You might want to play in another league" - Former batter's massive statement on England players skipping IPL 2025

Former England opener Nick Knight has offered his insight on whether Englishmen don't care about the IPL anymore. While Knight believes the national team has a jam-packed schedule, he equally thinks England players might want to play in other T20 leagues if they are not getting the desired price from the IPL.

Although the first few IPL seasons didn't feature a lot of England players, the ECB's outlook towards the tournament changed, especially with the motive to revive their white-ball fortunes. Harry Brook pulling out of the league for the second consecutive season sparked plenty of debates, while Ben Duckett had reportedly been contacted by the Delhi Capitals as a replacement but declined the offer.

Speaking on ESPN Cricinfo, Knight opined that English players are getting good remuneration by playing for the national team itself, making them not feel the need to travel to feature in overseas leagues.

"Rob Key, who is in charge back at the ECB, has basically tried to - and he's fairly right - encouraged his players to play as much for England [as possible]. They've got a five-Test series against India. They've got an Ashes to follow. They've got multi-format players, like Harry Brook and Mark Wood - they're pretty well looked-after now. And they're going to have to be looked after. There's a bit of that influence. So they perhaps don't need to travel and play in all these leagues around the world."

"There are other leagues popping up as well. If you're not going to get the full price [at the IPL auctions] that perhaps you might want to get, you might want to play in another league. So there are a number of these sort of factors flying around for some of these players."

Notably, there were 18 English players in IPL 2024 but only 10 this year. Brook opting out has also reportedly resulted in his ban from the IPL until the 2028 edition.

"The stock of some of these players is not quite as high because of the ICC trophies" - Nick Knight on England's recent performances

Nick Knight. (Image Credits: Getty)

Knight went on to cite how Sam Curran went for ₹18.5 crore in the IPL 2022 auction after the T20 World Cup win, but since then has dropped significantly. He added:

"Perhaps the stock of some of these players is not quite as high because of the ICC trophies, and the way some of these competitions globally have been going. You know, you look at Sam Curran. Go back a couple of T20 [World Cups] back in Australia, he was the Player of the Tournament. And he goes into the IPL auction, gets an absolute full whack. So there are a number of factors that are combining to make a few players less than you'd expect."

Since winning the T20 World Cup in 2022, England have dished out disappointing performances in the next three ICC events.