Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Dhanushka Gunathilake who were banned from representing the country, have their ban lifted by Sri Lanka Cricket and are available for the tour against Zimbabwe, subject to fitness. Earlier during the day, Dhanushka announced his retirement from Test Cricket.
The trio were banned from playing since the England Tour last year and received a lot of criticism due to disciplinary issues. They were initially banned for a period of 2 years for breaching the bio bubble protocol and later lessened to a year.
They were part of the recently concluded Lanka Premier League and Kusal Mendis in particular ended as the highest run scorer of the tournament. The other two player didn’t share the same success although Dhanushka made a few late improvements and scored a 50 in the finals for Galle Gladiators.
Sri Lanka Cricket saw drastic changes in the recent past since the conclusion of the West Indies tour. The coaches have changed, more recently, Bhanuka Rajapaksa announced his retirement from International Cricket citing personal reasons. This is a heavy blow on the team as he was an attacking batter in the middle order.
With the new fitness criteria in place and salary cuts are in place for underperforming, there have been many rumours spread on several experienced players not making to the squad to play against Zimbabwe or retiring. Sri Lanka Cricket has denied these rumours and so have some of the players. However, the ban on these three players has been lifted and they will be subject to the new fitness criteria.
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