IPL isn't distraction: Strauss

Malaysia Sun (ANI) Friday 3rd February, 2012

England captain Andrew Strauss doesn't believes the money-spinning Indian Premier League (IPL) is a distraction for his players, as his team stares at a series whitewash against Pakistan in the final Test match of the series.

The IPL's auction is scheduled to take place on Saturday and the final Test match starts on Friday and various England players would be available for sale during the auction.

'I certainly hope not. I think we've had this circumstance before," Strauss said when asked whether the IPL auction would distract his players, Sports24 reports.

James Anderson, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior and Chris Tremlett are some of the England players who will be available during Saturday's IPL auction whereas Stuart Broad, Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen already have IPL contracts in place.

Strauss believes the thought of the IPL auction is in the background as his team faced first ever whitewash in Pakistan-England Test history and would be surprised if any of his players had IPL auction in his mind.

"I certainly remember Test matches in the past where this has been looming, in the background and it is very much in the background," he added.

"I would be very, very surprised if any of our players had their attention anywhere other than on the game at the moment especially after what's happened over the last couple of Test matches. So it's not a big issue for us."

He believes that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had given England players ample amount of time to recover from the IPL for their next Test series.

"I think we have become very comfortable with the fact that the (International Cricket Council) ICC have given our players the window to play in the IPL and that window stipulates that the guys have to have enough time when they come back home to prepare for our next series." (ANI)