The much hyped players from England cricket team failed to prove any point. So far as Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah were concerned, their presence was hardly felt and people almost forgot that they also belonged to Delhi Daredevil team. While Andrew Flintoff came out as season’s greatest flop, Kevin Pietersen struggled through his you-blink-and-you-will-miss stint with Royal Challengers to justify his astronomical price tag.

They share a point of similarity: they all failed in Indian Premier League. However, all of them happen to share another point in common and that is: all of them made big statements ahead of the tournament that the upcoming cricket tournament is going to sharpen their twenty-20 skills. As if money did not map in their scheme of things at all and it is the sole opportunity of bringing back the twenty-20 experience and utilizing it for the upcoming T-20 WC, that made them signing deal with Indian Premier League.

Now there are many people, who has the guts to call a spade a spade and former English fast bowler Darren Gough is definitely one among them. An aggressive attacker, Gough blasted those four English cricketers with his characteristic forthrightness. In his column for a cricket portal, he bluntly voiced his belief that money-making was the sole purpose that made them go for Indian premier League. And by hiding their actual motive under the cover of experience-seeking intentions they were being plain hypocrite.

Here is what Gough said:

 “England players in the IPL had a shocker. Pietersen struggled with the bat, Flintoff had a disaster bar one good game. “It was disgraceful that Collingwood and Shah didn’t get a game, while Napier only played once so he’d get paid before flying back.

“They’ve all said they developed their games and improved at Twenty20. I totally disagree. “I’d be happier if they just said they were there for the money and they couldn’t turn it down. “These are all players at the top of their games for England in one-day cricket, so shouldn’t need developing.

The decision went all wrong for Shah in particular. He had to give a miss to his Middlesex commitments due to IPL and was latter dropped from the Test side for Ravi Bopara. Bopara on the other hand shone through his brief stint with IPL and then returned to West Indies to bag two centuries against the Windies. Given the dazzling performance of Ravi Bopara at the number 3 position, Gough believes that it is going to be a matter of long wait for Shah to return to the Test side.

“Bopara was the pick of the bunch in the IPL. He went there hungry and got his rewards. Shah got good money to be there and it was always a big decision with him hanging on to his Test place. But he went there to get paid, missed out on time for Middlesex and has now been dropped,” Gough compares between two English cricketers - one IPL success and another IPL flop.

Though dismissive about the performance of the English cricketers in IPL, the leading paceman of his time says that he enjoyed the twenty-20 tournament thoroughly. “There have been some great games in this IPL and it has got better as it’s gone on.

“There have been some great games in this IPL and it has got better as it’s gone on. “Chennai and Delhi have been the best teams but in Twenty20 anything can happen, especially through an individual performance.

“Delhi reminds me of Rajasthan last year. They had energy and have been great to watch. “Out of the bowlers, RP Singh has been the pick of the bunch. Matthew Hayden has lead the way with the batting but I think Delhi’s Tillakaratne Dilshan has been the best match winner overall,” observed the master of reverse swing.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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