12 Indians for Sri Lankan Premier League

As many as 12 Indian cricketers, including the likes of Munaf Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, are expected to feature in the first edition of the Sri Lankan Premier League (SLPL) scheduled to commence from July 19.

According to a report in islandcricket.com, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has secured the services of several prominent overseas cricketers, including Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, who are currently engaged in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

Apart from Gayle, whose blistering strokeplay has put the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the top of the points table in the fourth edition of the IPL, SLPL is also expected to feature Daniel Vettori, whose IPL journey was cut short after a recurring knee injury. 

Among the Indian players on the SLPL radar, the inclusion of Patel and Ashwin besides Praveen Kumar, who was recently selected for the West Indies tour after missing the World Cup due to an elbow injury, comes as a surprise as the trio is likely to be on national duty during that period.

India is scheduled to visit England during the month of July for a four-match Test series followed by a one-day tournament and a one-off Twenty20 match. 

The other Indian players who figure in the list posted by the website include Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Manish Pandey, Manoj Tiwary, Paul Valthaty, Ravindra Jadeja, Saurabh Tiwary, Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar. 

The list, which in all features 33 overseas players so far, also includes the names of David Warner, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Akmal, Albie Morkel, Herschelle Gibbs, Kevin O'Brien and Tamim Iqbal among others.