'Keen' Pietersen tops IPL targets

Captain Kevin Pietersen heads a list of English players being approached by the Indian Premier League (IPL) to play in the 2009 season

His agent Adam Wheatley said Pietersen was "keen to play" and the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) expects a number of players to follow his lead.

The IPL will conduct an auction on 6 February to bring in new players.

The PCA is already helping Essex all-rounders Graham Napier and Ravi Bopara with their negotiations.

Significantly, the maximum number of permitted international players in each IPL squad has been increased from eight to 10 - with four allowed in the playing side at any one time.

Wheatley told BBC Sport: "Kevin has been approached by quite a few of the franchises.

"It's not the be-all and end-all for him. He's got a lot on his plate as England captain but he feels it would be quite useful for a number of the players to get some experience of the IPL.

"There are issues on scheduling and there are also issues concerning the central contract that need to be sorted out but if you look at the timetable there is a small window of availability."

The IPL's second season is expected to run from 10 April to 29 May.

England finish their West Indies tour on 3 April and have no further cricket until 7 May, the scheduled date for the first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's.

However, that tour is in serious doubt because Sri Lanka's leading players have been allowed to honour existing IPL deals.

Last year, England's top players missed out on the IPL riches, with only Hampshire's Dimitri Mascarenhas getting a short stint with the Rajasthan Royals. He is another player understood to be in fresh negotiations.

This year, the PCA expects many more players to travel to India in April - whether they are tied to county deals or are on the verge of signing a fresh central contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

PCA chief executive Sean Morris said: "It's more than a possibility that a number of top players will go. The franchises will be after the main international players and negotiations have been going on for some time.

"Central contracts are being finalised as we speak, but it's safe to say that players will be approached to go and have been already."

Bopara's agent Mike Martin said his player had been contacted "by more than one of the franchises" but would await an ECB decision about player availability before committing to the IPL.

"It will depend on what's happening with his England career because there's a potential clash, and obviously he's going to put his England career first. But if a window becomes available - as it should do - then he's going to be very interested."

Essex spokesman Greg Lansdowne said if Napier did receive a firm offer from an IPL franchise following the February auction an agreement would have to be reached directly between that franchise and Essex.

Both he and Bopara remain contracted to the Chelmsford club.

One leading agent for several England top players, who did not wish to be named, said: "The IPL is going to be around for a long, long time and everybody's interested in it, but it's all in the hands of other people at the moment.

"I don't think anybody knows exactly what's going to happen but things will become clearer when the PCA has negotiated the central contracts and the schedule for the early part of next summer is finalised."

England coach Peter Moores recently gave his blessing to his top players experiencing the IPL. He told the Sunday Express: "The key is to embrace it. By going to the IPL - seeing it, doing it and feeling it - they’ll say, 'right I've done that, now I can move on.' "

An ECB spokesman declined to comment on when he expected the players to sign the central contracts. England's next representative cricket is on Sunday with their first match of the Stanford Super Series in Antigua.