After seeing India's brilliant performance in one-day cricket, former skipper and prolific right hand batsman Kevin Pietersen believes that the IPL is the reason behind men in blue's success and said if English players were to lift their game, they too must play in the Twenty20 tournament.

Speaking with BBC, Pietersen said, “I think the reason why India has gone through the roof is because of the Indian Premier League (IPL).”

''After missing out last year, there is no way we can get up there if we don't play,'' he said.

He feels that larger involvement by England players in the annual Twenty20 tournament would also help them in developing their stability in the ODIs.

Apart from Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara, Kevin Pietersen is also among those five England players who would feature in the second season of the IPL which is scheduled to start from April 10. Last year (IPL Season 1) only only one England player, Dimitri Mascarenhas featured for the tournament. Howver, Mascarenhas played only one game for Rajasthan Royals.  

Commenting over the current form of the Indian cricket team, Pietersen said, "India are taking one-day cricket to a different level.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.”