Warne keen on ICL if 'whole package is right'

Shane Warne says he is keen to take part in the Indian Cricket League (ICL), which has already signed Brian Lara for its inaugural multi-million dollar Twenty20 tournament. Yet even as the buzz around the ICL grows, so does the confusion, with Warne's manager denying reports that he had been signed on and one top ICL official - and former cricketer - contradicting another.

"Playing cricket in India is always an experience," Warne wrote in his column for the Times. "That is one reason why I am keen to take part in the new Twenty20 League in October and November. The organisers are ambitious and, if the whole package is right, then I'll be out there.

"Brian Lara has committed to it and I have been speaking to him and a few other players. I know that I will miss the game during the winter, having retired back home. This is ideal at roughly three weeks long. People the world over are turning to Twenty20 for a quick fix of cricket and they will love the spectacle in India."

On Thursday, Kapil Dev, the chairman of ICL's executive board, told Cricinfo Warne and Glenn McGrath were "on the verge of signing" and that the news would be released within 24 hours. But Kapil was contradicted by the managers of both players who denied that the former Australian cricketers were close to joining the ICL.

The ICL had met with disapproval from the BCCI and Warne's manager, James Erksine, said that he would not be a part of it if there was going to be a conflict. Erksine said that he had spoken to Cricket Australia's chief executive James Sutherland about the matter.

"I asked him [Sutherland] politically what the situation is," Erskine told the Australian. "He tells me that the BCCI are going to be in a situation where they're probably going to get upset by it. He wonders whether all the Indian players they say they're going to pick will fly in the face of the BCCI. We will wait and see what the political fallout is before anyone puts pen to paper."

McGrath's manager, Warren Craig, said that he had been contacted by the ICL earlier in the week to discuss matters but McGrath was also no closer to signing up.

Dean Jones, one of the executive directors on the ICL board, said that Kapil's comments were not accurate. "He [Kapil] hasn't been briefed properly," Jones said. "He's firing from the hip. Everything's fine. It's just normal Indian press and a few guys not communicating. Discussions are still continuing."

The ICL is a Twenty20 series proposed to be held around October in India featuring six teams comprising four international players and two Indian stars, with the rest made up of younger players.