SLC to discuss BCCI no to SLPL

19 June 2011 06:10 am

Taken aback by the BCCI's refusal of permission to the Indian players to participate in the Sri Lanka Premier League, the island nation's cricket board will meet on Monday to discuss the matter.

"The interim committee will be meeting on Monday to discuss the issue. It is too early to say anything as we have to study the situation," Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga said.

The BCCI refused NO Objection Certificates to 12 Indian players -- Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Manish Pandey and Paul Valthaty -- saying that the league would be organised not by SLC but by a private party based in Singapore on its behalf.

"We took the decision at an informal meeting of 18-20 members held yesterday 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. The board's policy is not to allow players to take part in private party-organised tournaments," BCCI president Shashank Manohar stated.

Manohar said unless the board gives them a No Objection Certificate, Indian players cannot participate in the Lankan Twenty20 league.

"We have to give them permission and we have decided not to give it. We have already informed the Sri Lanka Cricket about it," he elaborated.

The SLPL is scheduled between July 19 and August 4 here. The BCCI was concerned that the contracts for SLPL had not come from the SLC but by a private firm called the Somerset Entertainment.

"They (Somerset Entertainment) are the marketing arm of Sri Lanka Cricket," Ranatunga said when asked to comment on the Indian decision. (PTI)