IPL courts England stars

Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi has stated he is "certain" the second edition of the tournament will feature some of England's top players.

IPL officials are currently gearing up to follow this year's hugely successful inaugural Twenty20 event, which saw the Rajasthan Royals emerge victorious.

While the majority of cricket's top nations saw their star players take part in the event, English players were conspicuous by their absence with only Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas taking an ultimately peripheral role for Rajasthan.

Participating players have been able to double or even triple their annual incomes through a few weeks with the IPL, with India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni the top earner on US 4.5 million for three seasons with the Chennai Super Kings.

However, although there are scheduling issues as the IPL calendar clashes with the English domestic season, Modi is confident the 2009 tournament will see the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff (pictured right and left respectively) in action.

"As for the influx of English players I am certain that the DLF Indian Premier League will definitely see the likes of Flintoff and Pietersen playing next year," the IPL chief told PA Sport.

In the meantime, Modi, who is now one of the leading figures in world cricket, is promising the 2009 IPL season will be bigger and better than its first outing.

However, he has ruled out any immediate prospect of the League expanding from its current eight franchises.

"One can only expect much bigger and better things from the adrenalin packed Twenty20 format, which is fast paced and exciting and so appeals to a global audience," Modi added.

"As for the DLF Indian Premier League, we have identified areas of improvement around spectator comfort and the in-stadia experience, which we will rigorously implement in the coming season.

"That being done we will also be sitting down with the franchises in October to discuss and evolve improvement areas for the next season.

"As of now I do not think we will be adding to the number of franchises. However, that is a decision we will take slightly later in the year.

"There is already talk of franchises playing matches overseas and then there is the Champions League Twenty20, which we have just announced.

"As for expanding the number of franchises, that decision will be taken only after the initial three years. All I will say is that the sky is the limit and hopefully our franchisees will utilise these opportunities to their advantage."