Half of the cricketers in the current English team are ready to give up their international careers for the six-figure salaries on offer at the Indian Premier League, a survey has revealed.
In an annual poll of the 16 current players, conducted by the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA), eight said they are happy to cut short their national careers and play in the multi-million-dollar Twenty20 league in India.
PCA chairman Dougie Brown described the findings as "extremely worrying" but felt the England and Wales Cricket Board's refusal to allow players to participate in league is actually to be blamed for such attitude.
"You can't blame the England players for thinking that way. We're all in the game for a short period of time, and those people who spend a lot of time travelling the globe must find the idea of the IPL very appealing," he was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.
"These guys will be faced with the choice of spending 300 days away a year, or going to India for six weeks, and getting paid the same if not more money. There will be a fair bit of pressure coming from the family," he added.
No English player, except for Dimitri Mascarenhas, participated in this year's IPL but the number is expected to increase in the next edition with top stars like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff tipped to join the league.
"The majority of the England players have been in contact with us," says IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
