Mumbai, June 19: In the latest instance of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) assuming an adamant stance, it has disallowed the dozen Indian players who wanted to take part in the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) from playing in the tournament.

The directive comes on the heels of the players’ request for No-Objection Certificates to play in the two-week long Twenty20 competition, starting on July 19.

The SLPL is to be managed by a Singapore-based private company, Somerset Entertainment Ventures, which includes the issuing of player contracts. The BCCI believes that such an arrangement would lead to complications of its player if disputes arise.

“In the IPL the players are contracted by the BCCI, but the SLPL is offering contracts with the event management company,” a BCCI official, who attended the tours and fixtures committee meeting on Saturday, said. “So, if there is any goof-up, Sri Lanka Cricket cannot be held accountable. As a result, the board [BCCI] would not like to take any chances.”

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, reportedly, are the Indians who had expressed interest in playing the SLPL. This volte face from the BCCI comes after it had initially appeared amenable to the proposal and had given its consent to the Indian players.

Meanwhile, the SLC big-wigs were surprised by the Indian board’s decision and called for an emergency committee meeting to discuss it. No SLC official was available for comment.

The SLPL will be conducted between July 19 and August 4 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. A host of foreign players, including Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shahid Afridi, Daniel Vettori, Kevin O’Brien and Herschelle Gibbs have already been signed up for the event. (AGENCIES)