The Indian cricket board has denied permission to a dozen cricketers to play in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL), reported local media.
Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin and Irfan Pathan were among the 12 seeking permission to play in the July 19-August 4 tournament but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has disapproved of their participation.
“We took the decision at an informal meeting of 18-20 members that no Indian cricketer will be given permission to take part in the league as it is being organised by a private party based in Singapore,” BCCI President Shashank Manohar told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“The Board’s policy is not to allow players to take part in private party-organised tournaments.
“We have already informed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) about it.”
In response the Sri Lanka board rejected BCCI’s claim that the SLPL is a private-party organised tournament, according to the ESPNcricinfo website. The SLC said that the league is owned and approved by the host board and the International Cricket Council. The report further said that Singapore-based Somerset Ventures only owned the commercial rights to the tournament.
“This tournament is approved by SLC,” its Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga told ESPNcricinfo. “And Somerset are the marketing arm, having won the rights through a tender process. Nobody can say it is owned by Somerset.”
Unlike the Indian Premier League (IPL) – where the teams are owned by private franchises – it is the SLC that owns the seven teams in the tournament and will determine which players are assigned to which teams, the board was quoted as saying.
That sudden volte face has left SLC “surprised and hurt”, said Ranatunga, and the board will be meeting today to discuss how to tackle the situation, reports added.
“We need to explain the matter to the BCCI and whatever concerns they have, we need to give them an explanation. It is very important to have them [Indian players] as they add a lot of value and glamour to the tournament.”
Kieron Pollard, Shahid Afridi and Daniel Vettori are among the other foreign recruits of the Twenty20 tournament, which has been modelled on the successful IPL.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2011.
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