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Kumar Sangakkara,
the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, has said the decision to exclude Sri
Lankan players from the IPL matches in Chennai will not "curtail" the
spirit of cricket. The players, he said, continue to feel "very welcome"
in other parts of India.
"Politics in this case has restricted our presence, our belief to play
in every part of India. But I don't think sports and spirit of cricket
is ever going to be curtailed by such prejudice," Sangakkara told PTI. "The build-up has been different and difficult for Sri Lankan players. But at the end of the day they are here to play IPL."
"The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has made it clear that no Sri Lankan
players will be [playing] in Chennai. [But] India is much more than
Chennai and Tamil Nadu, and I think the rest of India has been very
welcoming of us."
The IPL's governing council decided that the matches in Chennai will not feature
any Sri Lankan cricketers or match officials, following growing
political tensions, stemming from the treatment of certain ethnic Tamils
in Sri Lanka.
Responding to comments from former players stating that the Sri Lankans
should boycott the IPL due to the restrictions, Sangakkara said: "It has
been a divisive issue back home as well. But this is not a nation
versus nation issue. It's only a state... and I don't think it is the
entire state [Tamil Nadu].
"So, we've got to put it in the right perspective. Foreign policies are
not going to be dictated by that and had it been a nation versus nation
issue then Sri Lankan players would not have been here."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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