The mini auction for the 2021 edition of Indian Premier League was held in Chennai on the 18th of February with all the regular grandeur.
Since the start of this giant of a tournament, there has been at least one Sri Lankan playing in the competition. But this year it was cut to none.
9 Sri Lankan cricketers were among the 298 shortlisted names for the mini auction. 61 slots were available to be filled if all the teams bought the maximum number of players allowed – 25 players per squad. 22 slots out of the 61 were for overseas players. So, the 9 Sri Lankans were in contention for those 22 slots.
Kusal Janith Perera, Thisara Perera, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera and Isuru Udana were the Sri Lanka national capped cricketers selected in this list. The rest were the youngsters Maheesh Theekshana, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth and Kevin Koththigoda.
Out of the 9 only 3 cricketers made it off the hat. The first Sri Lankan name to go up was Kusal Perera, to whom the gallery turned no eye. The other 2 were the Lankan Premier League winning captain Thisara Perera and last year’s only Sri Lankan representative in the IPL, Isuru Udana.
Udana was released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore after a decent season with them. Initially the left-arm seamer got a trade offer from Delhi Capital to be swapped with the like-to-like Australian seamer Danial Sams. But, Udana turned it down hoping for a higher bid at the auction.
A much expected name from Sri Lanka to pop up at the auction was the up and coming star, Wanindu Hasaranga. But he too was turned down without even a hearing.
From 2008 to 2013 at least 10 Sri Lankans were a part of the tournament regularly each year. Stalwarts of Sri Lanka cricket like Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga, Kumar Sangakkara. Mahela Jayawardena, and Muttiah Muralitharan all had glorious IPL careers during their playing days. But, since 2013, only 7 cricketers have taken part in the tourney from the emerald isle.
Lasith Malinga created a brand for himself with his impeccable shorter format bowling and for that he was held for 9 long years at Mumbai Indians. He played 6 seasons for Mumbai and was an absolute match-winner for the franchise. He is also the all-time highest wicket-taker in the IPL with 170 wickets to his name.
This year though the Lankan fans will miss the thrill of seeing one of their men in action at the grandest franchise tournament in world cricket.
There will be little joy though to see the involvement of three Sri Lankan greats, Mahela Jayawardena, Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara, at am administrative level. Jayawardena is Head coach of Mumbai Indians, while Muralitharan is a mentor at Sunrisers Hydderabad; both have held the respective positions for many years. Sangakkara is the latest addition to that list as the former Sri Lankan skipper will serve as the Director of Cricket for Rajasthan Royals this year.
