Sydney, Oct 20 : After pulling out of the first two seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Australia's new Twenty20 captain Michael Clarke wants to play next year in order to gain more experience in the format ahead of the World T20 in West Indies.

"There have been reasons why I haven't taken part in the last couple of IPLs," Clarke was quoted as saying in Australian media Tuesday.

"I've always said that it's a competition I would love to take part in at the right time. If the timing is right, if my body is healthy and I'm feeling good and a team wants me, it could be a great opportunity to prepare for what's going to be a huge Twenty20 World Cup," said Clarke, who will lead Australia at the World Twenty20 in the West Indies in May.

Australia crashed out in the first round of this year's World Twenty20 in England and Ponting later retired from the format, following which Clarke was given the charge of the team with Cameron White being made the new vice-captain.

"I'll be looking to Cameron White as vice-captain and a lot of the other senior players who have played a lot more Twenty20 cricket than me," Clarke said.

"It (Twenty20 ) is an area of our game that we're trying to work hard on and it's great to see New South Wales and Victoria over in the Champions League doing very well."

"T20 has definitely changed over the last couple of years. No doubt cricketers in general take T20 cricket a lot more seriously because it's a competition that's here to stay."

Meanwhile, Clarke also said he is still hopeful of playing the last couple of games of their seven-match One-day tour of India starting Sunday.

Clarke, who is recovering from the lower-back problem, is back in training as part of his rehabilitation from the injury.

"I'd really like to go there even if it's the last couple of games to help the boys out there and also as preparation leading up to the first Test match (against West Indies in November) in Brisbane."

"It's good to get out of the house and get back into the gym but at the moment I'm having regular physio. I'm going pretty slow and steady to be honest but I'm confident that I can continue building on my progress." (IANS)