The Sri Lankan cricket authorities on Wednesday cleared seven of its eight players to play in the BCCI backed multi-million Indian Premier League (IPL) scheduled to begin from April 2008.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene [Images] and spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan are among the players to sign up to play in the inaugural season of the IPL.

"We have approved the names of seven players to play for IPL and the eighth player Nuwan Zoysa does not have a contract with us though his name will also be cleared for playing in the league," secretary of Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) K Mathivanan said.

Despite announcement of the Lankan players signing up for the IPL on Monday , the SLC sources had earlier maintained silence on the issue.

The sources had merely said that only the Sri Lankan cricket board could make any announcement regarding their national cricketers who had a contract with the SLC.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had recently launched the IPL, which will be played in the globally popular Twenty20 format and  will operate in direct competition with the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).