BCCI Continue To Oppose SLPL Participation

The Indian cricket board, the BCCI, has said that they will continue to oppose the demands of Indian representation at the Sri Lankan Premier League this year. It now remains to be seen whether the Sri Lankan board will go ahead with the SLPL this year.

The Sri Lankan board officials, who were supposed to meet BCCI yesterday but could not do so, spoke with the officials over a video-conference call. However, they were unable to convince BCCI about the ownership of the tournament, which the Indian cricket board had cited as the reason for their backing out.

The BCCI had earlier agreed to send across its players for the inaugural edition of the SLPL but later refused to provide the players an NOC. They said that the tournament was being organised by Somerset Ventures and not by the Sri Lankan board and the BCCI did not encourage participation of its players in private tournaments. The buzz, according to a reputed daily is that the BCCI is worried that the SLPL is being organised by some close cronies of Lalit Modi, the former chairman of the IPL, who had been axed by the BCCI.

The problem with this decision is that the interest levels for the tournament in India will be bleak, which in turn means that the Sri Lankan board will be pushed into a corner when it comes to sponsorship. This could also mean that they will need to rethink the viability of organising the tournament.

Speaking to a newspaper in India, Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said, "We knew that India was not going to change its stand. That was the reason why we did not go to India. We made an attempt to convince them, but the BCCI told us that it cannot reverse its stand. They seem to have some apprehensions over the tournament."

He is also alleged to have admitted that the BCCI had said that Modi had worked behind the scenes in the tournament and hence did not want to associate themselves with the SLPL.