BCCI holds firm on Indian players` participation in SLPL

Colombo: The BCCI has turned down Sri Lanka sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage`s request to revise its ban on Indian players participating in the inaugural Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL).

In an attempt to convince the BCCI, Aluthgamage took part in a telephone conference with its officials yesterday. "We made an attempt to convince them, but the BCCI told us that it cannot reverse its stand," Aluthgamage was quoted as saying in the media. The tele-conference was initiated after Aluthgamage had asked SLC officials to speak to BCCI bosses and convince them about Indian players` participation in the league. Aluthgamage, initially, wanted SLC chairman DS de Silva and secretary Nishantha Ranatunga to travel to India and sort out the issue at the earliest with BCCI officials. The BCCI had initially indicated that Indian players could participate, but changed its mind amid media reports that the tournament was being organised by a Singapore-based company with alleged links to Lalit Modi, the sacked former chairman of the Indian Premier League. Aluthgamage, however, had already clarified that Modi has nothing to do with the SLPL."I can say with 100 per cent assertion there is no role of Lalit Modi in SLPL. I am unaware about his trip to this country, if he had made one two months ago," he had said. The BCCI had refused No Objection Certificates to 12 Indian players -- Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Manoj Tiwary, Saurabh Tiwary, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Manish Pandey and Paul Valthaty -- saying that SLPL is not a tournament to be organised by SLC but by a private party based in Singapore on its behalf.The tournament is scheduled to be held from July 19-August 4. PTI