Sangakkara defends role of player agents

ESPNCricinfo: Kumar Sangakkara believes the role of player agents has been misunderstood by Sri Lanka Cricket and said they were not a detriment to the game. His comments came after the Sri Lankan Board had said it will not recognise agents anymore and will deal directly with the players instead.

“There is a lot of misunderstanding and an even bigger case of miscommunication as to what the role of a player-manager or agent is,” Sangakkara said. “They are not here for the detriment of the game.”

SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga had said agents “bring more negatives than positives” to Sri Lanka cricket, but Sangakkara said that was not the case. He said that if there were issues with the role of agents, there should be a provision for dialogue where problems could be solved.

“If at any time the player manager issue has a massive negative impact on the game, it is important there is a forum where it can be discussed with the players and Sri Lanka Cricket and then come to an understanding and a decision taken,” Sangakkara said.

“There has been quite a lot of media pressure as well, and pressure from former players on player management, so Sri Lanka Cricket has taken a stand where they will avoid any complications or misunderstandings that can arise in the future by saying we will communicate directly with the players. I don’t see anything wrong in that. A statement was also made that the players can go ahead and employ anyone of their choosing, which is of course their freewill and their right to do so.”

Sangakkara said he had benefitted from having an agent manage his off-field affairs during his career because it had freed him up to focus on his cricket.