London, 12 November 2008

                                      Commissioner advocates changing English season to avoid IPL clash

Lalit Modi says Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff need to be available for a substantial number of games to make it viable for them to play in the Indian Premier League.

Interviewed in the December issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine, Modi says: “Are the franchise owners happy for Kevin Pietersen to play a handful of matches and then go away? I don’t think anybody would be happy with that. He wouldn’t add any value and would be more of a disruption. It takes time to gel with team-mates and to become part of team strategy and implement that strategy.

"They (Pietersen and Flintoff) need to be there for 15 or 16 matches — substantial numbers of games. If you ask, ‘Is that practical?’, I don’t think it is currently."

Modi believes a resolution to the scheduling clash can be achieved if the ECB agree to alter the start of the English season. "The good thing is that we are moving closer to trying to resolve the issue. If we can’t agree for the next year, I hope we can agree something for the next Future Tours Programme, so we can move our tournament further forward and the ECB can move their season so they sit further apart."

Modi is also reticent about releasing star India players for the English Premier League in 2010. He says: "The ECB want us to give clearance to 20 centrally contracted Indian players to play in the English Premier League. But we would be creating competition for ourselves. If we get back something of value then we will consider it. But it comes back to the same question: what is the availability of English players for the IPL?"

The December issue of The Wisden Cricketer, the world’s best-selling cricket monthly, is on sale at leading outlets from Friday 14 November and includes a free, 28-page Heroes of Cricket supplement celebrating the career of David Gower