Gough and Udal Join England Brigade on Provisional Ipl Player List

Darren Gough and Shaun Udal are the surprise names on a 13-strong list of potential English participants in this year's Indian Premier League. The 38-year-old Gough, who announced his retirement at the end of last season, and Udal, the Middlesex off-spinner who will be 40 by the time the IPL gets under way in April, are part of a multi-national list of 70 players who could make the auction in Goa on 6 February, although IPL officials say it is likely to be cut to 40 or 50.

The English contingent also includes the Kent captain, Robert Key, and the Essex and former England wicket-keeper James Foster, as well as seven members of the current Test party in the Caribbean: Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, Monty Panesar, Owais Shah and Ryan Sidebottom. Samit Patel and Ravi Bopara are also the list.

The eight IPL franchises are eligible to spend only $2m each at the player auction, since most of the serious bidding was done at the inaugural auction in Mumbai last year. But Pietersen, who has been courted by the Bangalore Royal Challengers, could be valued at as much as $1.5m alone. One official for the franchise, which struggled last year, told Cricinfo they were interested in the former England captain "because the team right now needs a maverick and a star in the dressing room".

Centrally contracted England players are available for the first three weeks of the seven-week tournament, between 10 April 10 and 1 May, following an agreement hammered out between Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner of the IPL, and Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association.