Contracts were signed by the players yesterday which makes them employees of the Cricket Board.
Cricket Board sources said, that Asanka Gurusinha, who was unavailable for this month's cricket tour of New Zealand on disciplinary grounds, is also among the 20 contracted players. He will be asked to sign the contract when he returns to the country.
Gurusinha is presently playing for North Melbourne in Australian district cricket.
The Cricket Board has set aside Rs. 14 million for the purpose of contracting these cricketers.
The 20 contracted cricketers are : Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Roshan Mahanama, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Hashan Tillekeratne, Asanka Gurusinha, Marvan Atapattu, Kumara Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Pramodya Wickremasinghe, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Muthiah Muralitharan, Upul Chandana (all World Cup players), Ruwan Kalpage, Sajeeva de Silva, Sanjeeva Ranatunga, Nuwan Soysa, Duleep Samaraweera, Jayantha Silva.