LONDON: English cricket chiefs at the MCC confirmed on Thursday that they could join a consortium looking to buy an IPL franchise.

The MCC club, based at Lord’s, has held discussions with a group of investors who are interested in buying one of the two franchises due to be added to the IPL on March 8.

MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw and club trustee Anthony Wreford travelled to India last weekend to meet consortium members and IPL officials and have set up a working committee to consider the findings.

Bradshaw said: “MCC has a proud history, is respectful of the game’s traditions and always mindful of its role as guardian of the laws and spirit of cricket.

“We would not pursue a path that we believed was contrary to the best interests of the sport or to the future health of Test match cricket.

“Undeniably, the game is changing. MCC, as an innovative, independent cricket club, wants to be at the heart of that change.

“The concept of MCC involvement in the IPL is something I believe is worthy of thorough investigation, and something that we’ll take to our committee for their deliberation.”