Muttiah Muralitharan said he is yet to sign a contract with Bengal for the Ranji season as his priority is to play for Sri Lanka.

Muralitharan on Tuesday said he was still unsure about his availability though the Sri Lankan Cricket Board has given him a go ahead.

The spin wizard is now looking forward to their tour of Zimbabwe in November which means Bengal's hopes for getting the off-spinner for the league round is highly unlikely.

"I am looking forward to our tour to Zimbabwe beginning November 7. Then, in February-March we play in Bangladesh, so it remains to be seen whether I am at all available for Bengal." He said that he has been contracted with the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings for three years so he is committed to them also. The inaugural Champions Twenty20 League will be held from December 3-10.

The group phase of the Ranji Trophy Plate League is scheduled from November 3-December 4 with Bengal playing five games before the knock-out stages.

Asked how Bengal managed to clinch a deal with him, Muralitharan said, "I am yet to sign a contract with them (Bengal)... I was contacted by Jeet Banerjee (managing director of GamePlan), who told me that Bengal are in 'second division' this time and they need my services to get into the 'first division'.

Later, I had a word with our Board (SLC) who gave me a clearance to play there on condition that I should be available for the country's commitments. Now, since the Indian Board has allowed participation of a foreign player, I gave my consent." "But, I am not available for the group stage... If it works out then I may sign the contract and play for Bengal may be in the knock-out stage..." added Muralitharan, who has 756 Tests and 479 ODI wickets to his kitty.

Under the new set of BCCI rules, each state association can sign four outstation players, including one from overseas, in their squads; however, one condition is that the overseas player should have played at least ten Tests or 20 ODIs.

Just for record, the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) has already recruited Sri Lankan left arm medium-pacer Sujeewa de Silva and Bangladesh's left-arm spinner Enamul Haque Junior.

Praising the move by the Indian board to allow one foreigner, the 36-year-old spinner said, "I've heard of Sujeewa joining Maharashtra... It's a good thing for cricket. Youngsters will benefit a lot playing with the experienced players. It will really benefit cricket." Ever since Jagmohan Dalmiya took over the reins of CAB, there have been several moves to uplift the Bengal team.

After convincing their top players including Ranadeb Bose and Manoj Tiwary to remain with Bengal, the Dalmiya-led administration recently roped in former India all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath as Bengal consultant who will work in tandem with coach Utpal Chatterjee.

Twice Ranji Trophy champions (1938-39 and 1989-90), Bengal were relegated last season after a few of their players, including captain Deep Dasgupta and Rohan Gavaskar, joined the rebel Indian Cricket League.