No permanent slot for IPL, says Morgan

The ICC has said that the IPL will not be given a permanent slot in the international cricketing calendar. Many top cricketers missed out during the two editions of the league due to national commitments, prompting calls for granting the tournament a permanent window in the ICC calendar.

However, the game's governing body is not considering such a proposal at the moment. "No we are not considering giving a window to IPL. Mr Lalit Modi [the IPL commissioner] has frequently said that a window for IPL is not appropriate and I agree with him," ICC president David Morgan told PTI.

Asked whether this could lead to players opting out of bilateral tours to take part in the IPL, Morgan said it would only happen in the case of those on the brink of retirement. "I think some cricketers who are coming to the end of their career will opt to play in domestic leagues like IPL," Morgan said. "But I believe established international cricketers will want to play international cricket.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC's chief executive, had earlier said that an IPL window would be considered for the new Future Tours Programme (FTP) and opposed calls for an expansion of Twenty20 cricket at the international level.

But he was cautious about the move which had the strong backing of players and their unions, questioning if such a development would create a precedent for other domestic Twenty20 leagues around the world.

"We will explore that," Lorgat had told Cricinfo. "We will look at all things. We are busy discussing the FTP post-2012, and we will have to look logically at what is right. But it's very difficult for us to create a window for a domestic event, because that's not what the FTP is.

"The FTP is an international basket of fixtures. That's what it is. The rest of the domestic seasons for every member country sort themselves out. You could feasibly (create an IPL window), but why would you do it? It's a domestic event. If you do it in one domestic season, what about all the other domestic seasons? There could be many others that arise. The FTP is done by the members for international fixtures."