IPL INTERESTS TOP ENGLAND STARS
Some of England's top players are keen on joining the lucrative Indian Premier League, according to IPL chairman Lalit Modi.
The newly-formed Twenty20 competition, which gets underway on April 18, has seen some of the world's top players move to eight franchised teams on extremely lucrative contracts, funded by the massive commercial and television interest that cricket generates in India.
With the domestic season about the start and New Zealand's tour of England just around the corner, make sure that you keep up to date with the latest cricket betting markets at Sporting Index.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the world's most expensive cricket player in the recent draft, signing a US.5m contract with Chennai whist 38 other players are thought to have been offered contracts in excess of US0,000 (approx �250,000).
So far, Dimitri Mascarenhas is the only English player to have signed up for the IPL, although Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff have both been approached according to reports.
However, the ECB have remained firm in their stance against players moving to the IPL, insisting that they will not alter their calendar to align with the tournament, with Chairman Giles Clarke maintaining that England players risk losing their international Test place should they opt to sign for an IPL franchise.
"We are not interested in people playing in the
IPL," Clarke said.
"The IPL is a domestic competition and we're not going
to alter our season for a domestic season in another country.
"I don't think the rewards being talked about are
particularly ones England players would be interested in.
"Should any player give up his English contract - which is not an insignificant amount of money, let alone all the extra methods of earning money that go along with that - he would, of course, risk losing his England place."
But Modi still insists that the IPL could accommodate English players.
"I know a lot of them are interested but we don't want
to conflict with the English season," Modi told BBC Radio Five Live.
"If that means we have to move our matches a few weeks
in advance, we would be happy to do that to accommodate the English players.
"We would like to see a lot of the English players in
the IPL but I cannot commit to them until the ECB actually finds a window and
clears them."
Modi added that the IPL's current aim is to secure the
competition's place in the sporting calendar.
"We may look at a second season years from now but I
don't see a second season in the next three or four years at least," Modi
said.
"We may look at a shorter window sometime in September
when we are free and there is no international cricket.
"We are looking at that but we have to keep in mind
that we have the Champions Twenty20 around that time, so we have to carve out
windows for everything.
"Our priority is to bring the Champions Twenty20 in next and then look at a second season for the IPL in the future."
Related links:
