Here comes the IPL...

While not especially a fan of T20 cricket, regular readers will know that I willingly acknowledge that it has brought an audience to the game that might not otherwise have been there. It's cricket for those who can't afford the time for a full day at a game, or who like to see something happening nearly every ball. For the ones who can't concentrate for any length of time it's probably the game of choice too; cricket for the attention deficit society...

If I can't watch Derbyshire, my preferred version is the Indian Premier League, where the game is such a weird amalgam of excited fans, international players, Bollywood stars, mad trumpeters and razamatazz that it is compulsive viewing. ITV4 did well to get the UK coverage - it is still the only thing I have ever watched on the channel...

If I'm honest, I like to watch it with a view to one of those involved being at Derbyshire at some point, for our albeit less manic version in England. It is perforce less manic, as the winds generally blow across the county grounds and one feels a degree of sympathy for the dancing girls. Unlike their IPL counterparts, who shake and shimmy in the heat, ours have to do the same while disguising goose pimples as big as marbles, looking longingly at the big jackets worn by the fans around them.

We know that Shiv Chanderpaul is going to be playing in the T20 for us, which should add a touch more class to proceedings for sure, but we don't yet know whether Martin Guptill can be tempted to stay on after the New Zealand tour. In common with all Derbyshire fans I hope that he agrees to do so, but there will come a point at which we really need to know.

Given that Karl Krikken and Chris Grant are nothing if not organised, I suspect that we have someone lined up at this stage. That player will not, as suggested by a correspondent over on the Forum, be a bowler, but a top order batsman who can clear the boundaries and play a 'proper', match-winning innings.

The question is who? It won't be an Indian, as their IPL contracts preclude them from playing in similar competitions around the globe. It won't be anyone from Zimbabwe or Bangladesh either. The only worthwhile signing from the former (Brendan Taylor) is woefully out of touch, while Shakib-al-Hasan has signed for Leicestershire, a very shrewd move by the Foxes.

Sri Lankans and Pakistanis don't generally get signed, at least not their batsmen, so I guess we will be down to those perennial sources of overseas stars, Australia and South Africa. I don't see the top tier South Africans coming over, as their demands will be too high, but the likes of Dean Elgar, Colin Ingram, Farhaan Behardien and David Miller could prove popular, the latter likely to renew his association with Yorkshire. So too might a few Australians with a pre-Ashes point to prove, batting places being very much up for grabs after the debacle of their Indian tour.

Dave Warner could fancy an early look at our conditions, while Shaun Marsh and Aaron Finch would give excellent value to any side that gave them an opportunity. All the players named above would be right for Derbyshire, though the contracts that they command in India might mean a county stint isn't high on their lists of things to do at this stage.

Peakfan's top three? I'd happily take any one from Ingram, Marsh or Finch, though any suggestion of their availability would doubtless start a stampede from the county circuit. Having presumably spent a lot of money on Chanderpaul, it would also be presumptuous to expect as big a T20 name.

We'll doubtless hear news on that score in the next few weeks. Whoever it is, the signing will be crucial to our T20 hopes this summer.

And you might just get an early sighter of them in the IPL in coming weeks...if its not Martin Guptill.