Australia's players will be available for the inaugural edition only if their proposed tour of Pakistan beginning next month is scrapped. The only other factor then that will keep them away is CA's insistence that the IPL protect the interests of its global sponsors, an unacceptable demand that the IPL has already dismissed through its chairman and commissioner, Lalit Modi.

Brett Lee, one of Australia's most potent weapons and easily the most popular Aussie in India, refused to be drawn into the controversy on Saturday. Asked about the stand-off between CA and the organisers of the IPL, Lee replied, “Cricket Australia, the ACA (Australian Cricketers' Association) and the BCCI — they are all dealing with it. We are confident that they can come up with a plan. They are more experienced to speak about it than I am. We will listen closely to what CA and the ACA are saying. It's a matter now of waiting and seeing. They are trying to work on an outcome that will make everyone happy.”

“The IPL poses a brilliant opportunity for Australian and other world cricketers to go out there and play in the Twenty20 format. We will get to play in fantastic different venues, under different sides, different clubs. I am sure it will all work out and people will be happy with the outcome. Right now, personally, it is a matter of me and the rest of the Australians focussing on what is happening here.”