The Twenty20 captain's first game in charge ended in disaster but he is upbeat about the second
Stuart Broad has urged England's young Twenty20 team to ignore the hype generated by the IPL and assert their right to be measured alongside the world's best in the one-off T20 international in Manchester.
In the city that knows a bit about sporting glamour, with Manchester still celebrating a weekend that brought 13 goals for United and City against north London rivals, it is India's glamorous domestic Twenty20 that can rival the passion while England's version struggles for prominence.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India's captain, was present at Old Trafford to watch United put eight goals past Arsenal on Sunday and, just down the road at the cricket stadium of the same name, he bore an expression of confidence again.
The IPL, presented as the villain during India's 4-0 Test whitewash, variously regarded as responsible for fatigue, slack techniques and a disenchantment in India with Test cricket, is now seen as a potential saviour.
"One thing is certain. Whatever happens bad in India it will be blamed on IPL," Dhoni said. "But IPL is a good exposure for players. This match, and the one-day series that follows, is important for us."
Dhoni seemed nonplussed by another injury blow that has forced Gautam Gambhir to miss the rest of the tour with concussion, after seeing an eye specialist, and the oddity of Rahul Dravid making his Twenty20 debut at 38. Dravid is a great player, enjoying a wonderful tour, but, if England made such a decision, they would face ridicule and rightly so. England, lest we forget, are World Twenty20 champions. But excitement at the emergence of bold and innovative young players such as Ben Stokes, Alex Hales and Jos Buttler is tempered by a suspicion that an education in England's Friends Life t20 is not an automatic passage to success.
Broad does not lightly dismiss such issues. "We have players coming into the side who might have seen IPL on TV and they might build something up in their mind that might not be there," he said. "Yes, it is important we do our research on India but, if we get our individual skills right, we have the talent to go a long way. It's two talented sides against each other ? the 50-over world champions against the Twenty20 world champions."
In India supporters of Chennai Super Kings or Royal Challengers Bangalore must have scoffed in disbelief, preferring to recall how Broad's first venture as Twenty20 captain resulted in a flaccid batting performance against Sri Lanka in Bristol and a trouncing by nine wickets. Broad, who found himself captaining from the boundary at one stage, looked a man under pressure.
County cricket's best young players ? Hales, a destructive front-foot batsman from Nottinghamshire; Buttler, who has overflowed with innovation and confidence at Somerset, even though he can barely cut it in the championship; and Stokes, whom lazy judges dub the new Andrew Flintoff ? are all hoping for a debut.
Broad, by his own admission, has not had time to see much Twenty20 and has yet to play for Notts. It does not do to be cynical, though, because his commitment to his county is unquestionable and he has seen enough to be impressed.
He said: "I try to catch as much Twenty20 as I can, although most of it is on TV. It's always going to be a huge challenge for any player coming out of county cricket but there are some exciting talents coming out of that tournament so it's hard to say it's not working. You get to see how people play with calmness and I think that's vital in international Twenty20 cricket. What shone about a player like Jos Buttler is that he can calmly flick a ball above the keeper's head and then next ball calmly hit it straight, 20 rows back. These guys have confidence to play their own games in domestic cricket and do it very well."
None of the above have attracted a hint of interest from an IPL franchise. English Twenty20 cricket is the mouse with an opportunity to roar.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/aug/30/stuart-broad-twenty20-england-india
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