LONDON, April 15: England could be losing its fight to keep players from the lucrative Indian Premier League. Test captain Michael Vaughan added his voice to that of Kevin Pietersen on Tuesday and suggested it was inevitable that England’s leading professionals will eventually join their international counterparts in the IPL.

The England and Wales Cricket Board has ordered centrally contracted players such as Vaughan, Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff to sit out the game’s newest competition. The ECB is concerned about scheduling conflicts with the English season and what is seen as a shift in power away from cricket’s traditional home and toward Asia. And Vaughan thinks it’s only a matter of time before England’s players join in.

“I’ve seen a few of the previews over in India with the adverts and the billboards, and it looks like it is going to be a big event,” Vaughan said. “If there are big grounds, and there is a lot of money involved, you’re going to want to play in it. I think it will be sooner rather than later that we will see England players playing in the IPL.”

Pietersen has called the ECB’s decision to block its players “ridiculous,” and Vaughan seemed as interested as any fan when he talked about the tournament on Tuesday. “I’ve heard so many people say that all the best players are in the world are there, and you want to go and play in it,” Vaughan told Sky TV.

“Maybe there will be a league set up in England, and with leagues set up elsewhere there could be something like the Champions League (in soccer) where the top few who win their leagues go and play,” Vaughan said.