SLC says monks` IPL concerns addressed

Colombo: Sri Lanka`s cricket board addressed the concerns raised by the island`s powerful Buddhist clergies on the participation of its cricketers in the ongoing sixth edition of the Indian Premier League on Friday.

Upali Dharmadasa, Chairman SLC, said he had written to the monks groups responding to concerns expressed by them. The contents of the letter, however, were not released to the media. Dharmadasa, while telling the monks about SLC`s talks on the players` safety with the external affairs and sports ministries, said that the players had signed their respective IPL contracts long time back. There was no immediate reaction from the monks to the SLC communique. Some of the nationalist monks, who advocated that players boycott the IPL, reacted angrily when players departed for the tournament. They threatened that the players will be attacked with rotten eggs upon arrival here at the end of the tournament. There was outrage in Sri Lanka over Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa`s demand to ban Sri Lankan players from playing in Chennai. PTI