Essex all-rounder Graham Napier is moving closer to tying up a deal that would see him playing in the Indian Premier League with Mumbai Indians and possibly missing the first seven weeks of the domestic season.

“I am getting closer to finalising a deal to sign for Mumbai Indians to play in the IPL although Mumbai are still in the process of agreeing my release from Essex for the duration of the competition but hopefully that will all be agreed soon,” he revealed.

Progress of that arrangement can be followed on Napier’s website, grahamnapier.com.

The Colchester-born player has spent much of the winter playing in New Zealand for Wellington in addition to playing club cricket.

As a hard-hitting batsman and incisive new ball bowler, Napier was always going to be a target for the IPL after his record breaking 152 not out in the Twenty20 Cup against Sussex last year and his prowess in the shortest form of the game has opened up opportunities on three fronts to potentially secure a place in the lucrative Champions League later this year.

“If things go to plan there is a chance I could be representing three teams in domestic Twenty20 competitions over the next few months – all with ambitions of reaching the inaugural Champions League,” he explained.

“An extra incentive for winning New Zealand’s Twenty20 competition is the possibility that it might earn that side a place in the Champions League towards the end of the year,” the 29 year-old stated.

“Nobody is 100 per cent sure whether that will be the case but it nevertheless gives me another possibility of reaching that prestigious tournament should Essex not get there.”

The players available for auction on 6th Feb for the prestigious Indian Premier League are :-

Australia: Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, Nathan Hauritz, Stuart Clark, Brad Hogg, Beau Casson, Mark Cameron, Peter Forrest, Lee Carseldine, Doug Bollinger, Michael Dighton, Jason Krejza, Nathan Reardon, Chris Hartley, Shaun Tait, Ashley Noffke, Bryce McGain, George Bailey, Michael Hill, Travis Birt, Chris Swan, Michael Klinger, Ben Edmondson, Aiden Blizzard, Mark Cosgrove, Adam Voges, Shane Harwood

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Rajin Saleh, Mehrab Hossain Jr, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Junaid Siddique, Ziaur Rahman, Mahumudullah Riyad, Nadif Chowdhury, Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Raqibul Hasan.

England: Ravi Bopara, Monty Panesar, Robert Key, James Foster, Sajid Mahmood, Matt Prior, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah, Darren Gough, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Ed Joyce, Dominic Cork

New Zealand: Mark Gillespie, Tim Southee, Jesse Ryder, Jeetan Patel, Kyle Mills, Chris Martin, Jamie How, Peter Fulton, James Franklin

Pakistan: Asim Kamal, Yasir Hameed, Danish Kaneria, Mohommad Hafeez, Yasir Arafat

South Africa: Gulam Bodi, Rory Kleinveld, Charles Langeveldt, Ashwell Prince, JP Duminy, Martin Van Jaarsveld, Roelof Van der Merwe, Andre Nel, Neil Mckanzee, Yusuf Abdullah, Paul Harris, Johan Botha, Morne Van Wyk, Tyron Henderson

Sri Lanka: Thilina Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera, Mahela Udawatte, Dammika Prasad, Thilina Kandamby, Kaushalya Weereratne, Jehan Mubarak, Dilhara Lokuhettiga, Malinga Bandara, Malinda Warnapura, Michael Vandort, Prassanna Jayawardane, Upal Tharanga, Jeevantha Kulatunga, Kaushal Lokuarachchi

West Indies: Sylvester Joseph, Darren Sammy, Kieron Pollard, Andre Fletcher, Kieron Powell, Fidel Edwards. Dwayne Smith, Kemar Roach

Zimbabwe: Vusi Sibanda

Source :thesun.co.uk

LONDON (AFP) — You want Kevin Pietersen? It’ll cost you at least 1.35 million dollars.

That was the base price slapped on the controversial England batsman when the Indian Premier League (IPL) announced its list of 112 players to be auctioned next week for the second edition of the Twenty20 competition which has revolutionised the game.

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has been rated at a minimum of 950,000 dollars in what will be the first IPL featuring leading England players after they were effectively barred from last year’s tournament by national officials because of their international commitments.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who played in the 2008 IPL, currently holds the record having cost Chennai Super Kings 1.5 million dollars last year.

“We are very excited. I think it’s important for world cricket and for the IPL that the English players are participating,” IPL chairman Lalit Modi told Sky Sports News on Thursday.

“I think that they are all very, very good players. Some are batting players and some are players who have great experience behind them and I think it will be very good for the second edition of the IPL.

“The prices are based upon the 14 league games. If they play 10 of the 14 games they get paid according to ratio. If they play seven they get half.”

Modi later added on Setanta Sports News: “If you look at the base price it’s close to 250,000 and 350,000 dollars a week for each week he (Pietersen) plays, which is comparable to the top soccer players around the world.”

“Andrew Flintoff has a minimum base price of 950,000 dollars, but he’ll probably go for a higher figure. It’ll be quite competitive. All the teams can afford it. Everyone’s trying to get England’s top players in their team.”

England’s centrally-contracted players will only be available for a three-week period at the start of the IPL, because of the first Test against West Indies at Lord’s, and will be paid on a pro-rata basis.

The auction is set to take place in Goa on February 6 ahead of the Twenty20 tournament, which runs from April 10 to May 29.

Other England players include ex-internationals Darren Gough and Dominic Cork as well as current stars Monty Panesar, Steve Harmison, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright, James Anderson, Sajid Mahmood and Ed Joyce.

Modi added: “The players are happy they are all able to participate. They are all very good players and I think it will be very good for the second edition of the IPL.”
Source: google news

Indian Premier League Chairman Lalit Modi dismissed reports that the second edition of the Twenty20 extravaganza would be co-hosted by England, saying the IPL is a domestic league with global appeal and would be played only on Indian soil.

“Right off the drawing board we were certain that the Indian Premier League was not just a domestic league with limited appeal for the Indian cricket fan but a global league that would draw in viewer ship across a global diaspora of fans from around the world, making the IPL one of the most watched sporting spectacles in modern day sport,” Modi said.

“But we have no plans to host IPL in England. It’s a domestic league which will be played in India,” said the BCCI vice president.

Media reports earlier claimed that the second edition of the cash-rich IPL, scheduled for April-May this year, would be split with five weeks of action in India and three weeks in England.

Modi also expressed hopes that the star England players, who missed out on the inaugural edition after the restricted by their board, would feature in this year’s event.

“The IPL has garnered huge interests from players across the world and the English are no different. IPL will be holding a fresh player auction on February 6 and I’m certain that the quality of talent available to the franchises on offer will be similar if not better than what was available during the historic first ever player auction held last year,” Modi was quoted as saying by
Sportzpower.Com.

Melbourne: Australian allrounder Shane Watson, who has been ruled out of action for the next six weeks because of a stress fracture in his back, is eyeing a return to competitive cricket at the Indiian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 competition.

Watson said he will be back bowling a lot quicker than he expected after a stress fracture of the back was set to prevent him playing as an all-rounder for six months.

He is aiming a comeback to cricket through the IPL, and plans to use that as a platform to convince the selectors before they pick the team for the Ashes series in England.

“That’s definitely the goal at the moment, and a realistic goal,” Watson said yesterday.

“The IPL will be a good way to just gradually build up your workload.”

In fact, it was in the inaugural season of the IPL that Watson made claims for a comeback to international cricket, after being laid low by a series of injuries that had kept him out of international cricket for over a year.
Source : cricketnirvana.com