Sri Lanka cricket is probably going through its darkest phase ever. Once, Sri Lanka was the dark horse of every ICC event, you don’t expect them to reach the knockout stages but they eventually do. Now, they will be playing ICC T20 WC Qualifiers in Oman, such has been the drastic dip.
The transition phase was a bit difficult when the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tilakaratne Dilshan retired in two years. The batting was in chaos as apart from Angelo Matthews, no one was a quality batsman. But then the youngsters stepped up and everything was about to be fine when the contract issue erupted. The SL Cricket Board cut fees for the 24 national players by up to 40% in the new performance-based deals, which the players had long resisted.
Seniors players like Angelo Matthews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne opposed this and even gave an ultimatum to the board but nothing worked. They eventually didn’t sign the contract. Also, irresponsible behaviour by players like Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, and Niroshan Dickwella leading to a one-year suspension due to a bio-bubble breach in England doesn’t help the cause one bit. Recently, Sri Lanka won the T20 series vs India which should give immense confidence to the new group under the captaincy of a young and calm player, Dasun Shanaka.
Sri Lanka
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