Can't stop players from participating in IPL: Lanka Board

Reacting to mounting pressure on the authorities to prevent the Sri Lankan cricketers from taking part in the upcoming Indian Premier League, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has said it was powerless to stop the players.

"We can't force players not to go", Nishantha Ranatunga, the SLC secretary said on Saturday.

Buddhist nationalist groups throughout last week petitioned SLC to stop the cricketers from going to India to play in the IPL, after the government clarified that the players were free to go as long as they would not be playing in Tamil Nadu.

Ravana Force, one of the groups who pressurised the SLC for a player boycott, said they would resort to sterner action if the players go to India.

"We will not let this happen. We will resort to much drastic action if they go", Ven Ittakande Saddhatissa, a Buddhist monk said.

Both Ravana Force and National Bhikku Federation have said that the Sri Lankans must skip the IPL in protest of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's ban on the Island's players from entering the state.

Particularly there is anger among the locals on the reported dropping of Nuwan Kulasekara and Akila Dananjaya by the Chennai Super Kings as means of appeasement of anti-Sri Lankan forces in Tamil Nadu.

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga described the axing of the two CSK players as too serious a snub that Sri Lankans must think about.

As many as 13 Sri Lankan players are scheduled to appear for different franchises at the sixth edition of the IPL, commencing on April 3.

Photograph: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images