Reacting to mounting pressure on the authorities to prevent the Sri lankan cricketers from taking part in the upcoming Indian Premier league, Sri lanka Cricket (SlC) said it was powerless to stop the players. "We can't force players not to go", Nishantha Ranatunga, the SlC secretary said on Saturday.

Buddhist nationalist groups throughout last week petitioned SlC to stop the cricketers from going to India to play in the IPl, after the government clarified that the players were free to go as long as they would not be playing in Tamil Nadu.

Ravana Force, one of the groups who pressurised the SlC for a player boycott, said they would resort to sterner action if the players go to India. "We will not let this happen. We will resort to much drastic action if they go", Ven Ittakande Saddhatissa, a Buddhist Monk said.

Both Ravana Force and National Bhikku Federation have said that the Sri lankans must skip the IPl in protest of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's ban on the Island's players from entering the State.

‘Seinor players being pushed out too soon’

Jaipur: Former Australia pacer Shaun Tait feels that seasoned players like Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden, Jason Gillespie shouldn't have hurried into retirement which would have enabled a smooth transition for the next generation of younger players. "I feel  the likes of Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne, Michael Kasprowicz and Mathew Hayden were the players from whom the younger lot could learn and I feel they should have hung for more time," Tait told the media. "I am not sure but there have been some changes in Australian cricket and at the domestic level too. The youngsters, when inducted into the team learn from their seasoned teammates."

Muralitharan joins RCB training camp

Bangalore: Amidst controversy over Sri lankan players' participation in Chennai matches of the IPl, spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan joined Royal Challengers Bangalore's training camp at the National Cricket Academy on Saturday.            PTI