THE glitz and glamour of the Indian Premier League has been soaked up by Colchester star Graham Napier – even before the action has started.

The Essex all-rounder is in South Africa for the multi-million pound competition which begins tomorrow.

And he is loving every minute of life in the big time.

He told www.grahamnapier.com: “All the franchises met at our hotel in Cape Town to get on security-led buses to a meeting point in the centre of the city.

“There we were joined by Bollywood stars and dignitaries of the IPL such as Lalit Modi to get on board our respective floats to take us round the Central Business District of Cape Town.

“The streets were lined with people wanting to see the stars make their appearance – there were certainly plenty of those on show. This was the first time I’ve been given the superstar treatment of being part of such a procession. Now I’m beginning to get a feel for the razzmatazz of the IPL!”

Napier, who came to the attention of the world when he smashed 152 not out off just 58 balls against Sussex in last season’s Twenty20, is crossing his fingers that he is selected for Mumbai Indians’ first match.

He said: “Our first IPL match is the opening fixture of the competition, against Chennai Super Kings tomorrow.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be playing as we have 10 overseas players for only four spots. Sanath Jayasuriya is a superstar – so he will be one of those – and JP Duminy is also likely to play. So that leaves eight people fighting for just two spots – likely to be for an opening bowler and an all-rounder.

“Fellow all-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Ryan McLaren have both performed well at some stage in the warm-up games so I just have to hope that I will get the nod.”

However, Napier is glad he is in one piece after the pre-tournament excitement almost resulted in injury.

“I’m just pleased to be available for selection at all after almost coming a cropper during the parade this afternoon. As the floats were quite high there was a little way to surmount from the steps up to the platform. It was a near-thing that I avoided falling into the gap between but I’m pleased to report I managed to scramble to safety!”