Colombo (PTI): Sri Lanka Cricket’s bid to stop its players from participating in next year’s Indian Premier League is not a surprise for the players’ association here, which alleged SLC made a similar effort last year to put a spoke in the wheel of the IPL-bound cricketers.

Sri Lankan Players Association (SLPA) Graeme Labrooy said SLC doing everything to stop the players from playing in next year’s IPL was not a one-off incident. “Unfortunately even this year, SLC tried its best to schedule a tournament in Pakistan during the IPL even after permission was given to the players to sign for IPL. So we don’t see it as one-off,” Labrooy said.

“We are handling matters with Sri Lanka Cricket on a daily basis and I would say that players have signed a three-year contract (with IPL) and the board was aware of it. That is why I think the Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge has taken right steps of releasing the players to play for the IPL,” Labrooy said.

According to him, despite the bitterness stemming from SLC’s hardline stance against its Indian counterpart, BCCI’s USD 40 million bailout proposal was still on. “Definitely there is hope to revive (the offer),” Labrooy said. “They (the BCCI officials) did not say the deal is off. It is still on. But let us get our relationship on the road,” Labrooy said.

The offer involved Sri Lanka’s participation in the Champions Twenty20 League for the next 10 years and was put forward by the BCCI as a solution for the loss Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) might incur due to the aborted England tour next year.
Source: hindu.com