LONDON, Nov 12: Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi has delivered a stark warning to England’s Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff – either commit to us or forget about playing in the lucrative Twenty20 event.

Both of England’s two most high-profile players are understood to want to play some part in the franchise competition, which has attracted leading cricketers from around the world.

But the duo have been effectively barred thus far by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) because of a fixture clash with England’s home international programme.And with that log-jam unlikely to be cleared in the near future, Modi said he did not expect teams to bid for either England captain Pietersen or leading all-rounder Flintoff in the next round of player auctions.

“Are the franchise owners happy for Kevin Pietersen to play a handful of matches and then go away?” Modi told December’s Wisden Cricketer magazine.

“I don’t think anybody would be happy with that. He wouldn’t add any value and would be more of a disruption. It takes time to gel with team-mates.”

Modi said only by guaranteeing their availability for a sizeable part of the IPL season could Pietersen and Flintoff expect to be involved.

“They need to be there for 15 or 16 matches – substantial numbers of games. If you ask, ‘Is that practical?’, I don’t think it is currently.”

Modi, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said the only way to get England players into the IPL was if the ECB altered the start date of the English season.—AFP