By: AswathyNair
Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) is currently going through a crisis of producing quality players at the international level, since the departure of their stalwarts.
Lankans had to bid farewell to greats such as Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya, and since then have been struggling perennially with their transition.
Now, to make matters worse, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is currently probing three Lankan cricketers for levelling match-fixing charges.
The Sports Minister of Sri Lanka, Dullas Alagapperumma, claimed on Wednesday. Keeping the confidentiality of the matter, Dullas did not mention whether the players under investigation were former or current cricketers.
The honorary minister expressed his disappointment to see the sorry state of affairs in the cricket-frenzied nation.“We are sorry to see that sports had fallen short of discipline and character,” said Dullas.
However, SLC insisted that there were no active players involved. “SLC strongly believes that what the honourable minister actually mentioned was about an investigation launched by the ICC anti-corruption unit against three former Sri Lanka players and not the current national players,” SLC stated in its release.
It was only a week back when fast bowler Shehan Madushanka was detained by the Sri Lankan law enforcement agency for possession of heroin.
Consequently, Madushanka’s central contract with SLC was detained. “It was sad, and the country had placed high hopes on him,” said the Sports Minister.
Further, Dullas affirmed that he had high hopes from Madushanka. Also, he suggested that the government will focus on the dropping standards of cricket at the grass-root level.
During a recent meeting, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa conversed with Jayawardena, Sangakkara, and Jayasuriya, where the former greats highlighted the need for the resurrection of cricket at the grass-root level.
