The Australian newspaper reported that Fleming may retire as New Zealand skipper to take part in the breakaway Indian Cricket League (ICL) being bankrolled by the country's largest listed media group Zee Telefilms.

The newspaper cited unnamed cricket sources in New Zealand, India and Australia as saying that Fleming was being sought to captain one of the six teams in the competition.

Competition organisers are reportedly offering Fleming a three-year deal worth 500,000 dollars (440,000 US) annually.

They have already signed up West Indian great Brian Lara and sources close to organisers in India have told AFP Australian spin legend Shane Warne and a host of other international players were on the verge of signing up.

The Australian newspaper says recently-retired Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath is among those in negotiations but his former teammates Damien Martyn and Justin Langer have rejected offers.

Fleming is the first current Test player to be speculatively linked to the competition, all the others have retired.

Fleming, 34, is playing currently county cricket in England.

He retired from one-day cricket after the World Cup but is due to lead the New Zealand Test team to South Africa in late October and November, when the first ICL Twenty20 tournament is due to be played.

CricInfo adds: ICL seems to be gaining momentum with marquee names like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath most likely to join Brian Lara for the inaugural multi-million dollar Twenty20 tournament being funded by Zee Telefilms.

"Yes, they (Warne and McGrath) are on the verge of signing and they are working out the last few details", Kapil Dev, chairman of the executive board, told Cricinfo. "We should release the news within the next 24 hours."

Dean Jones, one of the executive directors on the ICL board, speaking from Sydney told Cricinfo that by next week a few more big names are expected to join the ICL which could have a snowballing effect, convincing many others who have been thinking twice before signing up. "I have spoken to a lot of players over the last month and the interest has been high," Jones said. Although refusing to commit on the names of Warne and McGrath, Jones said that by next week everything will be out in open. "We plan to announce a few big marquee names that will generate further interest from others who have been thinking about the offers."

Fleming is one of the other names doing the rounds. His compatriot Shane Bond is also said to have been approached, along with the recently-retired Sri Lanka batsman Russel Arnold and the former Australia allrounder Ian Harvey.

Meanwhile, Jones confirmed that the Western Australian duo of Justin Langer and Damien Martyn have decided to not play for the moment. "Yes, they have decided not to take the offer for this year."

The ICL is a Twenty20 series proposed to be held around October in India featuring six teams comprising four international players and two Indian stars, with the rest made up of younger players.

"Potentially what we're about is trying to find young Indian kids to represent India, as well as potential young players from Kenya and Zimbabwe and maybe some Under-19s boys from Australia," Jones told Australian. "They're better off playing in this sort of league than playing club cricket for a month."

Kapil said the new league gave an opportunity for players to exploit the fact that India generated most of the revenue in world cricket. He termed the ICL "the most exciting thing," to happen to world cricket in recent times.