However, the ECB will not allow any of their centrally-contracted England players to play longer than half a season in the IPL because of Test commitments. Such a position means many England cricketers are not considered to be attractive targets in the big-money player auction that takes place before each edition of the IPL, with Prior ‘unsold’ for the past two years.

“I know for a fact that players want to play in the IPL — you can’t get away from the fact that there is an enormous amount of money at stake,” the 30-year-old Prior told BBC Sport.