Sri Lankan players to abide by SLC decision on IPL: Sangakkara

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has said that he and his national teammates, playing in the Indian Premier League will have to abide by the decision taken by their Cricket Board regarding returning home midway from the Twenty20 league for a tour of England.

"We have a tour of England happening by the end of May. I think the Board (SLC) will start calling us back. I am not sure if it is going to be May 5 or not (date of returning home)," Sangakkara, the captain of the Deccan Chargers, said.

"It is up to the BCCI and SLC to negotiate on this (date of return). What we as players can do is to abide by the decision of our Board. I hope the players would be communicated after a decision is taken by the BCCI and SLC. We have to abide by that," he said at the post-match press conference after Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 33 runs.

When asked who he thinks is suitable to replace him as the captain in the Deccan Chargers team, Sangakkara said, "In T20 cricket anyone can replace a player. No one is indispensable. It is not a great deal. Cameron White, who is the vice-captain, is also back. Moreover, there are a lot of other great international and local players in the side."

Sangakkara described his team's win against the Bangalore outfit as a team effort and said it was a relief that Deccan finally won at home in the IPL.

"It is great to win at home. It is relief and joy at last. It was a great team effort. Everybody contributed to the win. Chipli played a brilliant innings. Gony and Steyn bowled exactly according to the plan," he said

Asked about his side breaking the jinx of losing all their IPL matches at home before yesterday, Sangakkara said, "Win is a win and you have to keep on being positive. We did just that."

Heaping praise on India's Virat Kohli, who scored a brilliant 71 from 51 balls in Royal Challengers' losing cause, Sangakkara said he was on his way to become a very "special player".

"Virat is a very good player. I think he is on his way to become a very special player. Gautam Gambhir and Virat are two excellent players."

Meanwhile, RCB captain Daniel Vettori blamed poor fielding and bowling performance for his side's loss.

"We did not bowl and field well. We did not stop 15-20 runs while fielding. That is unacceptable in Twenty20 cricket. We have some good fielders and we should have stopped 15-20 runs. We let them add these runs," he rued.

"At the end, because of the mistakes their (Deccan's) total became unassailable," said the New Zealander.

Vettori said the top order batting failure meant that there were no substantial partnerships in RCB's run chase except for the 54 for the sixth wicket between Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara (25).

"You need quality players for big partnerships. Deccan bowled really well and our top order failed to get the start," said Vettori.

Regarding RCB's next match against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai tomorrow, Vettori said his team got to win it against one of the best teams in the IPL.

"Chennai Super Kings are a very good side. They are one of the best teams in the IPL. Now that this game (against the Deccan Chargers) is over, it is over. We have to get on with the next game and got to win it," said Vettori.

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