Hyderabad: Kumar Sangakkara respects the decision of IPL governing council and has said that not allowing Lankan players to participate will not inhibit the cricketing spirit. IPL governing council took the decision of not allowing Sri-Lankan players to visit Chennai after the Chief-Minister of Tamil-Nadu, Jayalalithaa, created a lot of political pressure on them by saying that “it will hurt the sentiments” of Tamil people.
Meanwhile, in the recent reports of Indian Express, captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad Kumar Sangakkara was quoted saying, "Political issues did have an impact on Lankan players but that doesn’t mean that we are not welcomed in India. It’s just an issue with Tamil Nadu, India is much more than Chennai and Tamil Nadu.”
“This decision has been taken by keeping security of Lankan Players in mind. Spirit of Cricket will not get decreased by such small issues and all the Lankan players are ready to perform well for their respective teams in IPL, It’s not a nation versus nation issues," he added.
According to the reports in Times of India, Sri-Lankan wicketkeeper batsman, was quoted saying, “Duo of Ishant Sharma and Dale Steyn is our trump cards for this edition. Early swing from Dale Steyn and reverse swing from Ishant in mid-overs will surely help us in chipping in wickets as well as in winning those close-contest that we used to miss out .Unfortunately, we won’t be able to see Shikhar Dhawan in action for next few weeks. But l still feel our bowling will be much better than it was in last season.”
“Ishant bowled brilliantly in the recent series against Australia and Steyn has among the best fast bowler of all time, these two new ball bowlers have a lot to offer for Hyderabad and I hope they won’t let the fans of Sunrisers down this time. Ishant missed the last edition of IPL, which was a big blow for us but his presence and experience on the Indian wickets will surely give us that edge that we missed last time.”
As per the recent reports in The Hindu Sunrisers Coach, Tom Moody, was quoted saying “Last time our fielding let us down but this time we have worked hard on that aspect and will surely repeat the success of what we did in the second edition of IPL.”
He added, “Inclusion of new faces in the team has always done wonders and I hope that this time two or three local boys will have a good tournament. Ishant Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are vital for our success in this season as they know these conditions really well.”
