London: The chairman of the billion-dollar Twenty20 Indian Premier League series says he is prepared to move his season forward to accommodate England cricket's big names.
Lalit Modi maintained that England's top players were keen to feature in the IPL series, which has already attracted stars from other Test-playing nations.
The new competition runs from April 18 to June 1, putting it in direct competition with the English season.
"I know a lot of them are interested but we don't want to conflict with the English season," Modi told the BBC. "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 (England and Wales Cricket Board) actually finds a window and clears them."
Modi said the first obstacle to overcome for the new league was to establish the competition's place in the sporting calendar. He denied that plans for a second season within the same 12-month period, at the end of the summer, were close to completion.
"We may look at a second season years from now but I don't see a second season (within the same year) in the next three or four years at least," he said.
The English players' representative said Friday that English cricketers should be given the chance to play in the IPL.
Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, warned that if a solution to the issue was not found soon "money will talk."
"The value of the cricketer has just increased through what is happening in the IPL," Morris told the BBC. "It's perfectly natural for the PCA to want our members to take advantage of that — it's a unique opportunity."
He was responding to comments from ECB chairman Giles Clarke, who said: "We are not interested in people playing in the IPL."
Clarke said he would not change the English domestic calendar to suit the Indian league and maintained he was "not getting any pressure" from players wanting to sign up for an IPL team.
At present Dimitri Mascarenhas, the Hampshire all-rounder who has played international one-day and Twenty20 cricket, is the only England player signed up for the first season of the IPL.
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