The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has made it loud and clear that no national player will be allowed to participate in foreign T20 leagues until Board’s own Lanka Premier League (LPL) finishes, Cricket Age reliably learns. Accordingly, Mumbai Indians’ senior pacer Lasith Malinga and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s all-rounder Isuru Udana will be missing the first week of IPL 2020 due to their involvement in the LPL.
The much-awaited LPL to be played from August 28 TO September 20.
“It is a domestic league, so obviously every contracted player will have to participate in the LPL. The tournament will end in the third week of September and no player will be allowed to skip matches due to IPL, CPL or any other league” a top SLC official told Cricket Age.
The SLC is yet to announce complete fixtures of the tournament. In this scenario, Malinga and Udana will miss the preparatory camp before the start of the league. As per rules, they will remain in quarantine for three days after landing in UAE. IPL 2020 kicks off on September 19.
Malinga’s absence will be a big blow for Mumbai Indians. The senior pacer led MI to their fourth IPL title victory by defending two runs off the last ball in IPL 2019 final. Mumbai, however, have likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Hardik Pandya and Dhawal Kulkarni in their line-up.
RCB might not miss Udana much as Chris Morris is confirmed to edge out every other pace-bowling all-rounder at least in the first phase of the league. RCB spent Rs 10 crore on the South African all-rounder.
Apart from these two players, the Australians and English players might also have a delayed arrival. The limited-overs series between England and Australia is likely to end on September 16. This confirms that they won’t be part of the preparatory camp before the start of IPL. Also, all the players will have to be in quarantine for three days.
