BCCI Rejects Indian Cricketers’ Participation in SLPL

The BCCI come down hard on Sri Lanka’s new Twenty20 venture, denying the Indian cricketers from participating in the Sri Lankan Premier League. The BCCI has shifted from its earlier stance that the Indian cricketers would be available for Sri Lanka’s domestic Twenty20 competition but would not participate in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash because it would clash with India’s domestic season. At the time it was considered that even the participation in the SLPL was a dicey situation given that India had international assignments at the time and even though some of the cricketers would be signed on, they may not be able to participate if national duties come in the way.

Sri Lanka Cricket

However, the BCCI has thrown the Sri Lankan cricket board into a corner by announcing the decision over the weekend. The absence of the Indian cricketers would be significant given India’s present status in international cricket although the big stars will not be the ones on show. The sprinkling of Indian cricketers were expected to be enough to give the Sri Lankan Twenty20 tournament the kind of kick off it would like.

The Sri Lankan cricket board had not counted on the turn about since it had eventually relented, under coercion or otherwise, to let the Sri Lankan cricketers stay on in the IPL 4 season until the even of the first Sri Lanka England Test. This then was a blow they did not see coming. However, the BCCI has raised some serious questions about the ownership of the Sri Lankan Premier League with a Singapore based company, Somerset, awarded the marketing rights. The BCCI has expressed reservations that the tournament would then be controlled by a private entity as opposed to the BCCI and the BCCI is in no mood to negotiate with a private organization running the show and it further claims that it does not want its cricketers to get caught up in a situation where they are bound by a contract outside the two boards and made in agreement.

The BCCI stand on the issue is bound to cause more heartburn because the IPL 4 has already seen the kind of situation brewing between the two boards who are unable to impose their authority in front of the Indian cricket board and now are at the mercy of the board making another decision that directly affects their own tournament despite giving the Sri Lankan cricketers the No Objection Certificate.There has been heavy jostling in the midst of the IPL 4 season over the Test retirement of Lasith Malinga and the former Sri Lankan captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, equating the IPL to being a monster in world cricket.

The tournament could turn around Sri Lanka Cricket's bleak financial situation since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Although the Sri Lankan cricket board has denied that Somerset are the owners of the tournament or that the tournament does not come in the purview of the Sri Lankan cricket board. If anything, they have expressed shock over the issue and will now be in a race to convince the BCCI that everything is above board and that the Indian cricketers will not have any trouble over the matter of ownership. The BCCI though seem quite adamant about their stance which is going to make it hard for the Indian cricketers and the Sri Lankan Premier League to forge a bond.