India to rule the cricketing world?
Next summer could see the final steps which would prove that India rules the cricketing world and even England, which invented the game, would have to face up to its economic power.
If the proposals currently being discussed are accepted then the English cricket season, which traditionally begins in early April, will be put back to enable English cricketers to take part in the of matches. But not only will the season start later but once it starts more overseas players will take part as opposed to the present restriction of one per county.
This will make English domestic cricket much more of an international gathering of players as opposed to county teams supplemented by a solitary overseas player as at present.
The author of these revolutionary plans is , a vice-president of the Indian Cricket board and the man who runs the commercial arm of Indian cricket. He told me that he plans to discuss these proposals with Giles Clarke, the chairman of the .
The Modi proposals have emerged as a result of the riches of Twenty20 Indian cricket and the excitement this has generated in world cricket.
Although not a ball has been hit in anger, the franchises of these city-based Indian teams went for millions of dollars with Bollywood stars among those bidding for them. Millions have also been bid for the players and many of them, like the Indian wicket-keeper for just five weeks of cricket.
Such money is extremely attractive to cricketers. Apart from a few top Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly few cricketers around the world earn the sort of money common in international football. But the launch of the Indian Premier League has opened the door for international cricketers to share in this Indian bonanza.
But one set of cricketers are missing out - the English cricketers. This is because the IPL which starts on 18 April will clash head-on with English cricket.
For this season the ECB came to an understanding with Modi and IPL that no English player contracted to the board would be recruited for this League.
However, Modi has said that agents of nearly all the English players have contacted the Indians and expressed a desire to play in the IPL.
I am told that both Flintoff and Pietersen were offered money unheard of for cricketers, nearly £600,000 for five weeks cricket, but could not accept because of their commitments to English cricket.
Modi hopes that by moving IPL and the county season back these cricketers can be accommodated.
Any such move will not be easy. England tour the West Indies next winter and some of the cricketers will be on tour in the Caribbean. Modi is not proposing to move the international calendar and argues that not all the English cricketers that IPL may desire need be playing Test cricket for England.
These proposals may come to nothing but the very fact they are being discussed and will be formally presented to England shows how the game is changing and the growing power of Indian money.
Less than a decade ago English county cricket was both unique and supreme. Nobody played much cricket during the county season and it served as a finishing school for some of the best cricketers in the history of the game, being perhaps the best example.
These proposals suggest that the halcyon days of such English supremacy are now almost a thing of the past.
Mihir Bose's blog is no longer being updated. You can read recent entries about ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sport's coverage and insights into the latest issues on the 