Indian Premier League Observer » sri lanka

Sri Lankan board and players shun England for IPL 2009

IPL Observer — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:15:42 +0000

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.

Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan may skip Sri Lanka’s Pak tour for IPL

IPL Observer — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:17:57 +0000

The cash-rich Indian Premier League is now throwing international schedules into disarray, with Sri Lanka’s ODI tour of Pakistan set to suffer as many Sri Lankan players are toying with the idea of skipping that to participate in DLF IPL Twenty20, which begins from April 18.

The Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka itself was organized after Australia postponed its tour citing security reasons, following the political turmoil there.

But the present Sri Lankan tour of Pakistan clashes with IPL schedule. The tour is from April 23 to May 5.

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene, batsman Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan are taking part in the DLF IPL Twenty 20.

The Sri Lankan board cannot object to the IPL about the players participation as this is a make-shift tour of Pakistan, for which the players have not been contracted for. The players have been contracted only to tour West Indies, where they are touring now.

Media reports said key Sri Lankan players met in Guyana to decide on their course of action.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has offered Sri Lanka $800,000 provided a full team plays there.

Arjuna Ranatunga hopes too much cash won’t spoil young players

IPL Observer — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:17:25 +0000

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former highly successful captain of the Sri Lanka cricket team, has said that players venturing into new cash-rich tournaments like ICL and IPL could be adversely affected by the amount of huge money they offer. Ranatunga said there was nothing wrong in making money when an opportunity comes in, but also said that the new young players, who get a huge chunk of money could eventually lose focus on the game.

“I hope this (losing focus) will not be the case and cricket will not be a business. The problem will start when money ruins the focus of young players,” Ranatunga noted.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) will feature the likes of leading Sri Lankan players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttaiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Chamara Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Lasith Malinga, while IPL’s main competitor the Indian Cricket League (ICL) will have Marvan Atapattu, Upul Chandana and Russel Arnold as their main players.

18 players up for grabs in 2nd IPL auction on March 11

IPL Observer — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:02:44 +0000

Eighteen players, incuding Pakistan’s Misabah-ul-Haq, Bangladesh’s Mohammed Ashraful and Australia’s Shane Watson, will be up for grabs in the second IPL auction to be held on March 11.

Seven New Zealand players, four Aussies, three Pakistanis, two Bangladeshis and one player each from Sri Lanka and South Africa will be auctioned on March 11.
There are no English players.

Apart from these players, 13 players have expressed interest to be part of auction process, according to the BCCI.

Many team owners have money left to be spent on players, which is a reason why a second auction is being held.

The teams will have to inform IPL about players outside the list of 18 announced now, if they are interested.

The IPL would then contact the respective boards.

IPL orgainsers have said this would be the last auction this season.Each team can spend $5 million for players.

The expenditure for picking up players who were not available in the initial auction is not included in the $5 million cap. Expenditure for Indian players not in the auction would also be not included in the cap.

Teams would have to be finalised 30 days before April 18, when the Twenty20 tournament kicks off.

Players for second auction:

New Zealand
Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Jeetan Patel, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, James Franklin

Pakistan
Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez

Australia
Brad Hodge, Shane Watson, James Hopes, Luke Pomersbach

Bangladesh
Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza.

South Africa
Ashwell Prince

Sri Lanka
Prasanna Jayawardene