 Things between the Indian cricket board and their Sri Lankan counterparts have
not looked too good in recent times and there is another simmering issue that
could lead to a big issue. The BCCI has said that the Indian cricketers will not
play in the Sri Lanka Premier League that will be hosted by the Sri Lankan
cricket board at Colombo.
The reason behind this 11th hour backing out was given to the fact that the SLPL
will, in fact, not be managed by the Lankan board but by a firm called the Somerset
Ventures, who will be managing the event. According to the BCCI, given that the
contracts will be issued by the Somerset Ventures, the accountability could be
an issue as the BCCI will not be able to hold the Lankan board responsible for
it.
On their part, the Lankan board has said that this is all hogwash. They have said
that the Somerset Ventures are the marketing partners of the event for Sri Lanka,
the same role that IMG does for the IPL. The event was being organised, they said,
by the Lankan board itself and this means that the BCCI's statements do not hold
water.
According to the secretary of the Sri Lankan cricket board, Nishantha Ranatunga,
the tournament was board-approved and Somerset was just a marketing arm. He
also added that one cannot say that it is a tournament owned by Somerset.
Earlier, the BCCI had said that there were no issues with the league and that
the Indian players could play in the tournament. However, this latest news comes
after there were issues between the two boards during the IPL, when the Sri Lankan
board decided that some of its players would need to come back from the tournament
a week before the aforedecided dates.
This had led to a lot of hurrying and scurrying between the two boards and
it had been said that BCCI had finally been able to convince the Lankan board
of its follies. However, the issue seemed to have germinated from the alleged
snub that the Sri Lankan president got during the final of the World Cup this
year between India and Sri Lanka.
Now, this is being said to be a snub from the BCCI officials as a retaliation
to what the Lankan board had done during the IPL. It remains to be seen where
this story ends!
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