IPL eyes Lord's & Oval for exhibition matches

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier League (IPL) has reportedly made offers to England���s leading international grounds ��� Lord���s and The Oval ��� proposing exhibition matches that would have IPL teams participating. The move by the IPL committee, according to insiders is to firstly popularise the IPL and secondly set the motion for the Champions Twenty20 World Cup, that English Cricket Board (ECB) is part of, that is poised to take place in October 2008.

According to a leading London-based daily, the Times, IPL is understood to be keen to expand beyond the inaugural tournament, which runs from April 18 to June 1. ���Those games have been allocated venues in India, but they are hopeful of staging what would be closer to exhibition matches in London,��� the paper said. However Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner, IPL flatly denied any such move. ���Not to my knowledge,��� he said.

The matches, if they happen, would be exhibition games. The move comes at a time the English game is grappling with the threat from IPL, which in the first year, is holding all its matches at the start of the county season. IPL has also roped in a number of overseas stars and is also targeting English players, something which the country game administrators are wary of.

The ECB is reportedly looking at proposing two Twenty20 competitions. One competition will involve the universities, the minor counties. The second one will be broader and will involve leading counties who will be allowed to hire four overseas players similar to IPL. The new tournament will be called English Premier League.

However IPL insiders told ET, that in all likelihood a match between Rajasthan Royals owned by Emerging Media���s Manoj Badale, and Leicestershire County Cricket Club. The venue for this match may be finalised in London. Emerging Media has been a significant and long standing investor in cricket through its subsidiary ��� Investors in Cricket (IIC). In fact, the group has a commercial partnership with Leicestershire County Cricket Club and hence the matches between the Indian Rajastan franchise and the English county is possible.