The Sri Lankan Cricket Board’s decision to partially lift the ban on their ICL players was received with mixed reaction. While there was condemnation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with the Secretary of the Board Niranjan Shah saying that they were ’disappointed’ with the move, there were others who welcomed the decision. Some of them were the convener of the tournament, the former Indian captain Kapil Dev and a string of Pakistani players who are involved in the tournament.

All these individuals of course, who expressed their views, had their vested interest. While Kapil was speaking on behalf of the tournament that he was heading, Shah was speaking on behalf of the Indian board that was responsible in getting the International Cricket Council to ban the tournament and get all players who are involved in the tournament to be outlawed as well.

Sri Lanka Cricket has rather belatedly expressed the true position with regard to the ICL players - that they are only allowed to play in the upcoming domestic tournament and not in any of the Provincial, District or international tournaments as it was perceived that the lifting of the ban was for all forms of cricket.

There have been concerns that the move would antagonise the cash rich Indian Cricket Board, whose team’s tours bring in huge cash revenues for the Sri Lankan board.

Traditionally, the Sri Lankans have been great allies of the Indian board. They have voted with the big brother at crucial junctures and been with them to take on other powerful ICC members such as England and Australia.

Vice versa, the Indians played a pivotal role during troubled times for the Sri Lankans, having sent the core of their players to take part in a one off one-day game through a joint India-Pakistan team when Australia and West Indies boycotted coming to Colombo during the 1996 World Cup.

More recently, the Indians helped out the Sri Lankans by lending out a massive loan that helped the Sri Lankans to come out of the financial crisis they were in.

All that’s fine, but there came a time when the BCCI introduced franchise; the Indian Premier League became a burden on the rest of cricket boards.

To the already packed international schedule, the Indian board’s Twenty-20 tournament meant that a significant amount of playing days had to be set aside for the IPL tournament, which ran for some 40 days and two more weeks are set aside for the Champions League, a competition among domestic cricket teams from various countries. With the time frame for the Champions League expanding for the next season, the time frame for international cricket gets shorter and countries like Sri Lanka are obvious at the receiving end.

With the Sri Lankan board struggling for finances, there was an opening for them when England invited them for the gap filled by Zimbabwe for a two-Test and three-match ODI series next summer and with the Sri Lankan players showing disinterest, the Sri Lankan board’s stance to pressurise the players to take

part in the England tour is only reasonable.

Although the Indian board initially said that international cricket should take precedent, the same sentiment is not heard now with the Sri Lankan players and the board is entangled in a row.

So the decision to free the ICL players could have come due to some frustration as well. While the Indian board wants Sri Lanka and other countries to do this and that, they are not exactly standing up to help the boards at a time when they need support.

But lifting of the ICL ban could also create other complications. Of the five Sri Lankans who have played ICL so far, Marvan Atapattu and Russel Arnold had already retired from international cricket when they went to play the Indian domestic tournament while Avishka Gunawardene, Upul Chandana and Saman Jayantha were very unlikely to play any further international cricket.

But the problem is; ‘Does this move send wrong signals to other players as well? Local media reported last week that some club cricketers, including leg-spinner Malinga Bandara, were contemplating to play the next ICL season and the recent development, in that case, could send out the wrong signals.