Doha Time

London, May 20: Kevin Pietersen expects to be playing in India next year, and is on the verge of signing the most lucrative deal yet witnessed in the Indian Premier League, after being offered in excess of  $4mn for a three-year contract by an undisclosed IPL franchise.

According to a report in Saturday’s Daily Mail, the deal has been financed by one of India’s wealthiest families, who want Pietersen to sign “at any price”. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is currently the most valuable player in the competition, earning in excess of US$1.5million a year, but such is Pietersen’s appeal - on the field and off it - his final figure could yet top that.

The news comes as a blow to the England & Wales Cricket Board, who had hoped to prevent their players from being lured to India ahead of a pivotal summer that includes the ICC World Twenty20 and, of course, the Ashes. An ECB insider told the Daily Mail that the head coach, Peter Moores, would have the final say on which contracted players would be permitted to join the IPL, but in Pietersen’s case, they were already resigned to making an exception.

Pietersen is currently 28 and approaching his prime as a cricketer. He has not missed a Test for England since making his debut in the 2005 Ashes, although he will now face a busy run-up to the 2009 rematch against Australia, with England scheduled to tour the Caribbean in February and March before his proposed three-week stint in India.

The ECB is naturally fearful of what could happen if the workload proves too much for him, or any other colleagues who might be lured by the IPL, but they are privately resigned to the situation. One man who would not be allowed to take part, however, would be Andrew Flintoff, given his ongoing fitness problems.