Sri Lankan board and players shun England for IPL 2009
For Test playing nation Sri Lanka, it seems to be T20 that takes prime place, as of late. Putting a full stop to speculations and a debate that was set to rage, Sri Lanka’s two Test tour of England next year has been put off.
The reason: Sri Lanka has finalized a deal that will commit the future of their international players to the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the expense of Test cricket.
The latest news follows a series of happenings where Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been pushing to make its star performers to be available for the IPL matches, This meant that the scheduled tour of England is off. The SLC is said to have been categorically decided that the IPL will be the Sri Lankan Board’s top priority for the next decade.
The SLC deal with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in this regard has come about so soon. The deal is in fact a money spinner, compared to the Test commitments. It has been reported that in return for committing its contracted players to play in both the IPL and the Champions League for the next 10 years, SLC would bag close to $70m from the BCCI. Besides, the SLC has also been offered yet another carrot. According to the BCCI, Sri Lanka will be included in two tri-series tournaments that would get underway in 2009 and 2010. This means that added financial gains are on the anvil for SLC.
The English tour is the one that would suffer with all the goings on in this part of the world. As if in consolation, the SLC is said to have offered the English Cricket Board a three-match one day international series to be played around May 25, in the place of next summer’s Test series against England. It remains to be seen if ECB is okay with the plan.