Sports
Why not much Sri Lankan representation in IPL?
Since its launch in 2008, the popularity of Indian Premier League has gone through the roof. Some boards like the English and Wales Cricket Board, Cricket Australia and even the International Cricket Council did not take kindly to the idea that the IPL should have its own window where all international cricket ceased. But such is India’s clout in world cricket today that there’s little international cricket scheduled during the time the IPL is played.
This year’s edition has produced some cracking games that have resulted in Super Overs. With virtually no cricket being played elsewhere, the talk of the town is about Ravichandran Ashwin not Mankading Aaron Finch and M.S. Dhoni losing his golden touch and much more. Sadly, there is very little representation from Sri Lanka in recent IPL events and this year there is just Isuru Udana.
Time was when the entire Sri Lankan team and even the reserves featured in the IPL. The likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene even captained IPL sides and did terrific jobs.
Business tycoon Mukesh Ambani paid almost US$ 1 million a year to acquire the services of Sanath Jayasuriya. There was fierce bidding for Jayasuriya, who is immensely popular in India and eventually Mumbai Indians paid him US$ 975,000. Always wonder how much Aravinda de Silva would have fetched if IPL was there during his time?
Other popular Sri Lankans in the IPL were Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, T.M. Dilshan and Chaminda Vaas. Even, Suraj Randiv, who played a handful of T-20 Internationals for Sri Lanka had an IPL contract with N. Srinivasan acquiring his services for his Chennai franchise.
It is no secret that it has been all downhill for Sri Lankan Cricket in the last decade and it is reflected by number of their players attracted by the IPL. Meanwhile, the South Africans, Australians and even Englishmen are in high demand for the franchise based T-20 tournament. We have made some blunders down the line.
Of all three formats of the game the one in which Sri Lanka have done poorly is the T-20 format. Six years on from winning the World title, they have been so bad that they have got to play a qualifying round to enter the tournament proper in next year’s event.
While the money is attractive in the IPL, the extremely competitive nature of the tournament brings the best out of players and this is an area that Sri Lankans are missing out. You see the amount of high pressure games the Indian players are exposed to at a young age and then they turn up at the international level like ducks taking to water as they have already got a taste of the international flavour thanks to IPL.
That is why Sri Lanka’s efforts to conduct a franchise based tournament of their own needs to be commended. We know that SLC’s effort to launch an event has failed on a few occasions now but they have got to start somewhere. Boards like West Indies, Australia, Pakistan and even Bangladesh have started a franchise based competition of their own in small scale and the players are benefiting by it.
The BCB has said that they will rely on the Bangladesh government’s directive before finalising their tour to Pakistan later this month. Bangladesh were originally scheduled to play five T20Is there from May 25 to June 3, but the PSLs schedule was revised following cross-border tensions between Pakistan and India.
According to the revised fixtures, the PSL final will now be held on May 25, when Pakistan and Bangladesh were originally scheduled to play the first T20I.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that the PCB has sent a new schedule for the T20Is between Pakistan and Bangladesh, with the first match now slotted for May 27, and the last on June 5.
BCB’s media committee chairman Iftekhar Rahman said they will rely on information from government security agencies and the Bangladesh high commission in Islamabad to take the final decision.
“Once we receive official communication about the dates and venues [of the tour], we will forward it to the government,” Rahman said. “The BCB is not the decision-maker in this matter. If the government agencies and our embassy declare Pakistan safe for travel, only then will we proceed.
“In our previous meeting, we agreed that any such situation would be referred to the foreign and home ministries. Once we get clearance from all relevant bodies, we will finalise the tour. Security concerns were more significant in the past, but Pakistan has proven it can ensure safety. Still, given the current circumstances, we need to assess whether the situation across the country is stable before sending the team.”
Before playing Pakistan, Bangladesh are scheduled to play two T20Is against UAE in Sharjah on May 17 and 19. They were then supposed to fly to Lahore on May 21.
[Cricinfo]
Apna Perera won his third title of the 110th Colombo Championships as he partnered Dhilvan Herath to beat Dumindu Dilum and Chehan Fernando in the open men’s doubles final.
Apna and Dhilvan registered 6-2, 6-2 win in the final.
Apna, the open men’s singles champion, was also the winner of the mixed doubles which was played according to round robin method. In the mixed doubles Apna partnered Inuki Jayaweera.
Results
Men’s doubles semi-finals
Apna Perera and Dhilvan Herath beat Ashen Silva and Lithum Jayabandu 6-1, 6-2
Dumindu Dilum and Chehan Fernando beat Methika Wickramasinghe and Vichinthya Nilaweera 6-3, 2-6, 10-4.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) recently carried out a Fast Bowling Talent Search program in the Polonnaruwa District as part of its ongoing efforts to identify and nurture emerging cricketing talent across the country.
The program, held at the Royal College Ground, Polonnaruwa, attracted over 60 promising young players—both boys and girls—including school cricketers of the district. Each participant underwent skill assessments to evaluate their fast bowling potential.
Following the evaluations, 20 talented bowlers were selected for further development.
The selected players will now receive structured training under the guidance of Provincial coaches of Sri Lanka Cricket, with a focus on refining their techniques and enhancing their overall performance.
Those who continue to demonstrate consistent improvement will be given the opportunity to join SLC’s district squads, thereby becoming part of the official National Pathway Program.
This initiative is a part of SLC’s ‘Cricket Gamata’, program which aims to find talent from rural areas across Sri Lanka.
The talent assessments were conducted by Lasantha Lakmin, SLC Talent Scout for the North Central and North Western Provinces; Lakshitha Herath, North Central Provincial Women’s Coach; and Saman Senanayake, North Central Provincial Fast Bowling Coach.
The event was organized by the North Central Provincial Cricket Association under the guidance of Sri Lanka Cricket. It was managed by Krishan Anandakumar, Manager of the Center of Excellence, Dambulla.
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