Sri Lanka’s interim coach Stuart Law on Friday said cricket administrators should schedule a window for Indian Premier League fixtures to stop players choosing club over country. Law, who has stepped in to fill the job left by outgoing coach Trevor Bayliss, has a tough assignment ahead as Sri Lanka leave for a gruelling tour of England on Tuesday.
The touring squad will be without eight players, including new skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan, who are in India for the money-spinning Twenty20 competition. “It (IPL) is a can of worms,” Law told AFP, when asked if it was right to ask Sri Lankan players to leave the IPL midway through to tune-up for the England tour. “The way I look at it is this. All our boys are playing competitive cricket right now in IPL.
They are playing a high level of competition, working under different coaches. It’s better that way than having training.” Sri Lanka Cricket had earlier ordered its IPL players to return home early and train for the tour. The board later backed down and asked the players to join the team in England on May 18 ahead of the second practice game in Derby.
