Ryan Sidebottom has endorsed the abilities of his Nottinghamshire and England team mate Graeme Swann following reports that Swann is set to be included in the IPL player auction on Tuesday.
Swann has been a revelation since replacing Monty Panesar as England’s number one spinner and his prowess hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“I don’t know the ins and outs of this year’s Indian Premier League but I do know that Graeme Swann is a player very much suited to Twenty20 cricket,” said Sidebottom.
“It has been reported that he has been added to the auction list, but there has been very little talk about the competition in the England camp.
“The focus is very much on the here and now, about what is going on in South Africa.
“I’m sure it might be at the back of Swanny’s mind, whether he plays in it this year or in future years but right now he has too much respect for the rest of the team to be thinking about it too much.
“What I would say is that Swanny is a very handy player to have around in Twenty20 cricket as he has proved many times for Notts.
“He is very dangerous because he is a laid back character, happy go lucky, who has the attitude of what will be, will be.”
Sidebottom and Stuart Broad have ruled themselves out of taking part in the IPL this year but both are keen to be involved in the future.
“It is something I wouldn’t entertain at the moment because I have quite a few other things going on in my life but it is something that would interest me in the future,” said Ryan.
“I enjoy playing Twenty20 cricket and the IPL is a great competition with some of the best cricketers in the world involved in it.”