The abandoned West Indies’ tour of India has been an outright blessing for Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), as the series against India could well be the opportunity they were looking for to solve their heavy financial crisis.
The invitation by the BCCI for Sri Lanka to tour India in the next two weeks, and SLC’s rapid acceptance of the request to help the BCCI, all but guarantees that India will tour Sri Lanka in return within a very short time. This will definitely be a big boost for SLC’s finances, since an Indian tour of any country always serves to fatten the coffers of the host country, as India’s superstar cricketers are the biggest draw for advertisers.
In a letter dated 23 October, SLC President Jayantha Dharmadasa was delighted to inform the SLC’s Executive Committee (Exco) members about a possible tour by India next August to assist SLC financially.
“The possibility of India making a tour of Sri Lanka to assist us financially was discussed by me in Australia with Mr. N. Srinivasan” Dharmadasa told the Exco in his letter.
Dharmadasa had been in touch with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its president, as well as ICC President N. Srinivasan, for quite some time now regarding the matter of arranging an India versus Sri Lanka series, looking for any assist from them to address the current financial issues faced by SLC. In fact, Dharmadasa had also written to Srinivasan in July this year regarding the same matter.
In July, Dharmadasa had requested Srinivasan to accommodate an India tour to Sri Lanka in 2014, which the BCCI had stated wasn’t possible due to the heavy Indian commitments during the balance period of this year.
“It was then suggested that the earliest tour between the two countries, which falls in August 2015, which is Sri Lanka’s tour to India for a three Test series, be exchanged with a tour of India to Sri Lanka during a later year instead, to accommodate the request, for reasons explained to you” Dharmadasa stated.
Nevertheless, West Indies’ decision to abandon their India tour halfway through the series, turned into a god-given opportunity for SLC when BCCI requested SLC to fill the void, which SLC grabbed with both hands. In return, the BCCI confirmed India’s tour to Sri Lanka next year in July/August, which was not confirmed even after several requests and discussions between the two boards earlier.
Even though SLC had its disputes with the BCCI from time to time, the richest cricket board in the world is the only one who can help SLC when they face a financial crisis, and it’s a known fact that Indian tours are the only cricket tours which could generate profitable income to SLC among test playing nations.
Sri Lanka Cricket’s debt crisis was in the worst possible stage this year, with SLC running on loans running into millions, where they had paid 16 million rupees as interest alone on its loan from Bank of Ceylon (BOC) in the first quarter this year. As for financial reports, SLC had bank overdrafts running to 129 million rupees by 31 March this year, while deficit between the total income and expenditures stood at 314 million rupees by then.
Apart from the financial factor, Sri Lanka’s cricket team too has received a valuable opportunity to play five ODIs against a top ranked ODI team prior to the World Cup, which could be a huge benefit for the team.
Secretary of SLC Nishantha Ranathunga too said last week that he learnt that the West Indian tour of India was in jeopardy when he was in Dubai for the Asian Cricket Council and ICC meetings, and had told the BCCI that if the series was cancelled, Sri Lanka would gratefully fill the void.
