The Indian cricket board (BCCI) is already in talks with the concerned authorities to find a way out of this situation and officials are keeping their finger crossed. "Sports should not be mixed with politics," a top BCCI official told TOI.
Of the nine IPL teams, there are 13 Lankan players in seven different teams. Among them, the teams most worried by this development would be hosts Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Mahela Jayawardene is the captain of the Delhi Daredevils while Kumar Sangakkara is the skipper of new franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. Paceman Nuwan Kulasekara is a key member of the Chennai Super Kings team while Pune Warriors have two key players in spinner Ajantha Mendis and allrounder Angelo Mathews. Royal Challengers Bangalore have Muttiah Muralitharan and Tillekaratne Dilshan in their ranks and Mumbai bowling is spearheaded by Lasith Malinga.
This may be a one away match situation for six teams but for CSK it may pose as a problem in all its home matches. If the situation does not change and BCCI decides to tell the IPL teams to drop the Lankan cricketers from the playing XI during Chennai matches, it will be interesting to see how the teams react.
Earlier in February, TN chief minister J Jayalalithaa had cancelled the Asian Athletics Championships to be held in Chennai in July, saying Lankan players had no place in the state.
Lankan players in IPL: Mahela Jayawardene (Delhi Daredevils), Kumar Sangakkara (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Nuwan Kulasekara (Chennai Super Kings), Ajantha Mendis, Angelo Mathews (Pune Warriors), Muttiah Muralitharan and Tillakaratne Dilshan (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians).
0 comments:
Post a Comment