England white-ball captain Jos Buttler is set to be offered a multi-year, highly lucrative contract by his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as per the reports of the Telegraph.   

The majority of IPL franchises own partial or full stakes in various private T20 leagues.

And there is a perceived hazard to the game's current structure due to concerns that many top international players may forego their central contracts in favor of signing deals with a franchise that are similar to those of a football club to participate in various tournaments.

According to 'The Telegraph', RR is trying to tie Buttler down to a longer-term deal but the offer is yet to be formally tabled and it is also not clear if the cricketer will sign the deal.

"England's white-ball captain Jos Buttler is set to be offered a landmark four-year deal by his Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals. It is understood that the offer to Buttler is yet to be formally tabled, and it's unclear whether the T20 World Cup winning captain intends to accept the deal,” The Telegraph reported.

CWC 2023: Virender Sehwag names his semi-finalists for the ICC World Cup including India

Buttler has proved to be a run machine for RR, having scored five tons and 18 half-centuries in 71 matches since joining them in 2018.

He also turns out for the Paarl Royals in the SA 20 and RR also owns the Barbados Royals in Caribbean Premier League.

In the past months, there have been talks of five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians offering a multi-year contract to England star pacer Jofra Archer, who could play just 5 games for them due to injuries since being bought for Rs 8 Crore in the 2022 auction.

The perceived notion is that if a player signs such a long-term deal with any franchise, then the international cricket boards, in the future, might need to seek permission from the private franchises to get their services for national duty.

(PTI inputs)