Monty Panesar has credited the Indian Premier League [IPL] for having a "huge benefit" on England's white-ball revolution, which culminated in them becoming the first men's team to hold both the ODI and T20 World Cups simultaneously.
England famously won the 50-over World Cup on home soil in 2019 in a dramatic final against New Zealand which culminated in a super over, before winning this year's T20 World Cup by beating Pakistan in a tense final at the MCG.
Panesar believes the IPL has certainly helped England's progress in the shorter formats, with England's Director of Cricket Andrew Strauss stating back in 2015 they needed to embrace franchise tournaments like the IPL in order to "get better at one-day cricket".
And with 13 members of England's World Cup-winning squad having IPL experience, Panesar extolled the tournament's virtues in a column for Nub News.
"After some reluctance, the ECB has finally bought into the idea that it is important to have as many English players as possible performing to a high level in the IPL," Panesar wrote.
"Certainly, it was crucial in the astonishing progress of Sam Curran, who did enormously well during England's successful World Cup run.
"When playing for CSK [Chennai Super Kings] in the IPL he was used in an effective manner. In fact, legendary captain, MS Dhoni, got the best out of him by making him open the batting and bowling in important passages of play.
"The new head of English cricket, Robert Key, understood how important it was that captain, Jos Buttler, should become as astute as MS Dhoni if they want to succeed in global events.
"Significantly, he recruited Mike Hussey from CSK as the batting consultant. This was a very smart move."
