I found my love for the game again while I was playing in the IPL, says David Willey

28-year Willey featured for MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in the recently concluded edition of the IPL, which saw the southerners lift the coveted trophy for the third time in the tournament's history. Willey was called in as a replacement for the injured Mitchell Santner and Kedar Jadhav for the latter stages of the tournament.

However, the Englishman claimed that his brief stint in the IPL, which lasted for just three games, was enough for him to fall back in love with the sport. He played under the guidance of Stephen Fleming and was led by the ever-reliable Dhoni in this year’s IPL.

“It was a no-brainer. You don’t get the chance to go and play in the biggest Twenty20 competition in the world every day. I was threatened with them ripping my contract up – which wasn’t great – but that has all been resolved now.

“I found my love for the game again while I was out there, and I really do think I’ve become a student of the game again,” he added. “I’ve signed another year at Yorkshire – which is going through today – and I still want to play all formats,” Willey told AFP sources.

Willey also claimed an important wicket of Australia top-order batsman, Travis Head, earlier this week in the first ODI match against the visitors and also played a crucial knock of 35* from 41 balls to seal the win for the home team at the Oval. Though a bump up the batting line-up remained unlikely, Willey said he had to be unafraid of conceding runs in the search for wickets.

“I need to make sure I am swinging that new ball and taking wickets inside that powerplay,” he explained ahead of Saturday’s second ODI in Cardiff, where England will look to go 2-0 up in a five-match series.