13 March,2009 05:11 PM IST | | PTI
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen believes India have taken one-day cricket to a different level and considers the Indian Premier League the reason behind their success.
"I think the reason why India have gone through the roof is because of the Indian Premier League," said Pietersen, who says if English players were to lift their game, they too must play in the Twenty20 tournament.
"After missing out last year, there is no way we can get up there if we don't play," he said ahead of England's Twenty20 international against the West Indies on Sunday.
Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah are supposed to play in the second edition of the IPL, starting April 10, provided their security concerns are allayed.
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If he gets the necessary security clearance, then the England middle-order batsman is looking to learn from the IPL. "India are taking one-day cricket to a different level," the former England captain told BBC.
"Have you seen the way they are playing in New Zealand? Then compare that to what we did out there last year - India are on a different level," said the the South Africa-born player.
"It's important for our players to learn how to hit fours and sixes. You can do that in Twenty20 cricket and you can practise it. You must practise it in order to play it. "In the middle when you try to play like that you have to know you've practised it, and Twenty20 is a boundary fest.
"I'm afraid to say it but they have taken the game to a new level because of the IPL and I think the players recognise that," added Pietersen, who was lapped up by Bangalore Royal Challengers for a record USD 1.55 million. Pietersen, meanwhile, is taking advice from England security expert, Reg Dickason, on the current situation in India.
"I've just got an email about security there and I'm going to follow it up over the next couple of days," said Pietersen. "They are still gathering all the information. I definitely want to play Twenty20 cricket and in the IPL.
"I'm taking advice from Reg and from Bob Nicholls, who is the security consultant and is a mate of mine, also from my manager and one or two other options," he said.
