All-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham admits he will try to learn as much as he can when playing alongside Cumbrian Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler.

Former Cockermouth Cricket Club man Stokes and Buttler, who arrived in India yesterday, make up two of Rajasthan Royals’ England quartet alongside Lancashire’s Cumbrian star Liam Livingstone and Jofra Archer.

With this year’s Indian Premier League starting on Saturday, Rajasthan are preparing for their first fixture against Kings XI Punjab on Monday.

Both Stokes and Buttler played for the Royals last year, and Rajasthan team-mate Gowtham is looking forward to linking-up with “the family members” on the field again.

“So basically, our team is not a team anymore. It’s like a family and the family members are coming back,” said Gowtham.

“Definitely, we are going to enjoy their company. They all know my character and I know their character, so we are going to get along very well, it’ll be fun.

“Last year, we did take a little bit of time [to get to know each other] because we were meeting for the first time.

"But, now, it will be different so we’ll start straight away with the pranks, naughtiness and all that stuff.”

On playing with the explosive England duo, Gowtham said to Royals' website: “With the amount of cricket they play at international level, when they come to India, they bring a lot of baggage with them [with] the amount of experience they have got. It’s vast.

"So, whatever you can learn in these 40 or 50 days, is what I try to grasp.

“When I’m bowling and when Jos is keeping, I can interact with him if I have any kind of doubt. He doesn’t tell you to bowl this length or that length, it’s not that, it’s about him telling you that you have everything and you need to believe in yourself – that’s it.”

Gowtham, 30, an India A international, added: “The thing is you can blindly trust these guys because they are playing for the team and they are playing as a team.

"It makes the team a family. Everyone is backing each other.”