IPL: England captain Joe Root 'would love' chance to join Indian T20 competition

Joe Root has won four of his six Tests as England captain

England Test captain Joe Root says he "would love" the opportunity to play in the Indian Premier League.

England's 2018 schedule has most of April and May clear, meaning more players could be made available for the world's richest T20 competition.

"It would be a great opportunity," said Root. "Ultimately I'm an England player and that comes first.

"If things fall into place, who knows, but for now my main focus is doing the best I can when I play for England."

No serving England Test captain has played in the IPL.

In the past, England's early-season home fixtures have often prevented players from taking part for a whole tournament.

However, this year, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes were excused from two one-day internationals against Ireland.

The performances of Stokes, who signed for Rising Pune Supergiants for £1.6m, saw him named as this year's most valuable player.

"There's a lot of cricket to come in the rest of this year and before next year's IPL starts," Root told BBC Sport.

"I have to have those conversations with the right people, people like [England coach] Trevor Bayliss and [director of cricket] Andrew Strauss.

"I'd love to have the opportunity to go and play in it, but you have to have a realistic view."

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'ECB are creating a window for the IPL' - analysis

Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan on Radio 5 live's The Tuffers and Vaughan Cricket Show

Around Christmas time Joe Root will decide if he will go in for the IPL auction and I get the sense he fancies it this time.

It's hard for us to say he should just play for England and spend the six weeks from the India to Pakistan series just resting and playing county cricket, when you are talking about a £1.9bn TV deal.

This is the first time that I am starting to see a window develop for England players to go out to the IPL. I have a sneaking suspicion that window [in the international cricket calendar] has been created by the ECB, to allow England players to go and do what other players do and earn a huge amount of money in a short space of time.

England want to win the 2019 World Cup and it is reasonable to think the players can go to the IPL and pick the brains of the best players and coaches and learn something different, that could help England win the World Cup.