Sangakkara not to play for Sunrisers in the Champions League

Kumar Sangakkara has preferred Sri Lankan champion team Kandurata over his IPL team Hyderabad Sunrisers for the upcoming Champions League Twenty20 tournament.

"I will play for the Kandurata team in the Champions League", the star left-hander said.

The Kandurata team qualified in the recent Sri Lankan Super 4 league which was cobbled out as a result of the cancellation of this year's SLPL.

"This was an issue which ought to have been settled by Sri Lanka Cricket. They told me that I should play for Kandurata. If I had a free choice where I was not being penalised, my choice would definitely be Kandurata," the former Sri Lankan captain said.

Sangakkara's form dropped so much so in the last IPL, he stepped down from captaincy of the Sunrisers and was also dropped later as a batsman.

However he regained his form in the tri-nation series in the West Indies which followed the IPL, in the home ODI series against South Africa and while also steering the Jamaica Tallawahs to the final in the Caribbean Premier League concluded last week.

He said if the players ought to represent home franchises, the local board, IPL governing council and players must discuss the issue before signing the tripartite agreement.

Responding to the oft repeated accusation that players were money chasers leaving the national interests in the sidelines, Sangakkara said he had never claimed match fees for making appearances for his club and the province in the domestic competitions

Image: Kumar Sangakkara

Photograph: BCCI