Bengaluru, Feb. 24: He has enjoyed a history of being one of cricket’s most prolific batsman of the early 80s, a defiant captain who led a rebel tour to South Africa and a witty commentator with a mouthful of slapstick banter. Fifty-five and still his ingenious self, former England captain and one-time ‘terror’ Graham Gooch believes the Indian Premier League’s lucrative dominance in the world will eventually draw English cricketers into its fold.

"I believe that the English players are quite desperate to be part of it, taking into consideration the amount of money involved. Even the quality of cricket is massive and surely they didn’t want to miss out on the big audience here," Gooch said in a chat with this newspaper.

With heavyweights such as Kevin Pietersen and the doubtful Andrew Flintoff set to steal the spotlight this season, "Goochie" — as he is popularly known — says their IPL stint will have its share of pressure.

"Bagging the title of being the most expensive players in the league is good for their morale. But a costly price tag comes with the added pressure to perform well," he added.

"Kevin is a box-office player. A cricketer with ego, he is a risk-taker and a good asset for this form of cricket. His style of play is exciting to watch, especially when he top-spins the ball through the wicket like a tennis player," Gooch said.

With Flintoff’s injury fuelling speculation about his availability for the IPL, Gooch said the English all-rounder shouldn’t risk aggravating his injury and recuperate in time for the home series against the Caribbean nation in May and the all-important Ashes in July.

England received a lot of flak after their disastrous innings defeat to the West Indies in the first Test where they crumbled for a shocking 51 with many blaming the IPL auction as distraction.

"It’s not the best environment for a team to put in their best when you have had the captain and coach quitting and the IPL auctions in the background," Gooch said.

"Having said that, there was news that Andrew Strauss had said IPL was hardly discussed in the dressing room. But believe me, I have been part of dressing room talks for years and what Andrew expressed is quite hard to digest," he added.

Tipping interim coach Andy Flower as the fancied choice for team coach, Gooch stressed that past incidents should not affect the team spirit and focus should be on upping the ante for future tourneys.

"There were some issues between Kevin and Peter (Moores) which couldn’t be resolved during their ‘clear-the-air meeting’ and reached the public domain. Now, Andrew (Strauss) and Andy Flower should focus on uniting the team and get them performing as one. They should imbibe the fact that they are playing for national honour and coherence," Gooch said.

In the city as brand ambassador for Essex County Cricket Club, Gooch and the club’s chief executive officer David East are looking out for sponsorship deals for their stadium and also interact with IPL bigwigs so that they can try and start a new T20 venture back home.

"It’s a great opportunity for us to foster new ties and also for Essex players such as Ravi Bopara (Kings XI Punjab) and Graham Napier (Mumbai Indians) who will feature this season," East said.