In what would come as a welcome development for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Sri Lankan duo Dushmantha Chameera and Wanindu Hasaranga have got the no-objection certificate from Sri Lanka Cricket to play in the second part of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.
SLC issued a statement on August 29 to confirm permission to the players who were signed up by the franchises as replacements for the tournament scheduled to be played in the UAE.
The permission has been granted in consultation with the Technical Advisory Committee and they will depart the country to join their IPL franchise after the conclusion of the home series against South Africa. They will rejoin the Sri Lanka squad on October 10 to play two warm-up games before ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers tournament, the SLC said, which means that if RCB manage to qualify for the playoffs stages, both players would be missing out in that crucial stage.
The RCB have signed up Hasaranga and Chameera as like for like replacements for the Australian duo Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson respectively. They had opted out of the event citing the bubble fatigue. The Virat Kohli-led franchises also signed dup Singapore-born Tim David for the remaining portion of the 14th edition of the marquee event.
The Royal Challengers have had an excellent start to the IPL 2021 winning five out of the first seven matches, and the franchise would hope for a similar performance in the UAE Leg of the tournament.