There is no doubt that Sri Lanka Cricket is struggling a lot and are going through tough times. Sri Lanka’s on-field performances have seen the biggest downfall in the last few years. The World Cup-winning team is in the stage where they have to go through qualifiers to participate in T20 WC 2021. Other than on-field performance the cricketers and cricket board have faced many controversies recently.
The latest controversy in Sri Lanka cricket is between Angelo Matthews, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Muttiah Muralitharan, the controversy is related to annual contracts of players. Legendary spinner Murali has blamed Matthews and Karunaratne for the annual contract turmoil. Also, Matthews and Karunaratne wrote personal letters to the legendary spinner.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will be facing India in the white ball series without many key players in the team. The hosts will miss players like Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka, and wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella. The above-mentioned players were suspended after a bio-bubble breach in England.
Also due to some contract-related matter, Sri Lanka has sidelined Matthews and Karunaratne. Adding to all these problems skipper Kusal Perera sustained an injury and will miss the entire series against India.
While talking about the contract issue in Sri Lanka cricket with Hiru TV, Muralitharan named Mathews and Karunaratne as the main reason behind the entire matter. After Murali’s comments, the cricketers responded and wrote letters to Muralitharan. In the letter, Matthews and Karunaratne also termed Muralitharan’s behavior as “unprofessional”.
“It is unfair and untrue that you state that the issue in the contracts was purely money – Mathews & Karunaratne
“It is unfair and untrue that you state that the issue in the contracts was purely money,” the letter read. “We feel that you were not properly informed of the correct sequence of events, or was possibly given wrong information. Possibly by parties who wish to create a rift between the players and the administration and create disharmony,” it added.