Indian biz houses buy all seven SLPL franchisees

Colombo: Indian business enterprises showed keen interest in the inaugural edition of the Sri Lanka Premier League and bought all the seven contesting franchises on offer, even as the BCCI decided not to allow its players to participate in the Twenty20 league.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had even last year prohibited its players from participating in the league, which forced the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to abort the opening season of the SLPL.

While Wadhawan Holdings shelled out the highest bid -- $5.02 million -- for Wayamba, Number One Sports Consulting offered a bid of $4.98 million for Kandurata.

The Uva and Ruhuna went to Success Sports and Pearl Overseas respectively for an amount of $4.6 million.

Basnahira was bought by Indian Cricket Dundee at $4.33 million, while Uthura at $3.4 million went to Rudra Sports.

Varun Beverages, meanwhile, spent $3.22 million for Nagenahira.

The debut edition of the SLPL is scheduled to commence from 10 August, with the final to be held on 31 August.

The matches will be played at capital city Colombo and the central province’s Pallekele.

The franchises will be allowed a maximum of 18 players, including six foreign cricketers, for registration. However, a team can play only two foreigners in the playing eleven.

The value of each player will be decided by SLC in the player draft to be held on 5 and 6 July.