The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Lanka wants series postponement

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Lanka wants series postponement

Colombo: Days after Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga dismissed the Indian Premier League’s Twenty20 matches as “three-minute noodles” and finalised a one-day series against Pakistan that clashed with the IPL, the Lankan board on Tuesday asked PCB to postpone the ODIs.

“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to confirm that as per chairman Arjuna Ranatunga’s discussions with the Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman, Sri Lanka Cricket is prepared to assist Pakistan only after the scheduled IPL tournament in India,” a statement said here.

SLC officials have reportedly said their top players may not be available for the Pakistan series as they were likely to participate in IPL matches beginning on April 18.

Clashing with IPL

The original schedule of the five-match bilateral series, set to take place after Sri Lanka’s tour of the West Indies, would have clashed with IPL matches.

Ranatunga, during a recent private visit to Canada, said the IPL tournament was not a place for cricketing greats and its matches were like “three-minute Maggi noodles”.

“For me, it is not cricket. It is raw power. How can any great players fit in it?” he was quoted as saying.

Top Sri Lankan players like Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dilhara Fernando have signed on to play in the IPL.

Similarly, senior Pakistan players such as Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Malik, Salman Butt, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir and Kamran Akmal have decided to play in the lucrative tourney.

Retirement possibilities

According to a Sri Lankan newspaper, it was being speculated that in the event of SLC not granting the necessary permission to its cricketers contracted with IPL, some of them are prepared to announce their retirement from one-day cricket and play in India.

“If that happens, SLC will be helpless to stop them because the players who are touring the Caribbean at present are not bound by a central contract with SLC, but only by a tour contract which will cease to exist at the end of the tour making them free to play where and when they want,” the Sunday Nation said.

The PCB had offered big money to the SLC if it could ensure the participation of its top players in the ODIs.

There was also speculation that BCCI may consider cancelling the forthcoming Indian cricket tour to Sri Lanka if its top players were not released for the IPL. — PTI

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