India have agreed to allow their top stars to play in Australia's domestic Twenty20 competition. Cricket Australia (CA) is considering an IPL-style franchise system for the tournament.

The six-state T20 competition is going ahead this season but from the following year the tournament will follow a completely different format. Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner, said India would have no problem releasing its players to take part.

Modi, who is also the vice-president of the BCCI, said Cricket Australia was gracious enough to release many of their players for the IPL and now it was the Indian Board's turn to reciprocate.

Modi said he had already cleared Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni to play for Australian state teams if they wanted to.

"It may not be on the same scale as the IPL. It may not be eight, 10 or 12 teams, but it may be six teams in Australia," Modi told Herald Sun.