SLC starts negotiation with ECB to reschedule tour

“The discussions are going on for the last two or three days and we are awaiting to hear from the ECB,” he said. Top stars Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan have lucrative three-year contracts with different IPL franchisees and they do not want to miss the Twenty20 tournament due a clash of dates with the proposed England tour, scheduled for next April and May.

On July 8, the ECB announced dates for the Sri Lanka tour which starts with a warm-up game against Leicestershire on April 21 and ends with the third one-dayer on May 30.

President Mahinda Rajapakse had to intervene in favour of the players and asked the SLC to allow them play in the IPL which the Board had to heed to.

Other Lankan cricketers who have IPL contracts include Chamara Kapugedra, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Zoysa, Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis, Chamara Silva and T M Dilshan.