Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga’s recent move has left everyone surprised. He came out of Test retirement on Monday, March 18 to tackle a ban handed by the International Cricket Council (ICC). He had retired from red-ball cricket in August last year, to focus on his white-ball career. However, the recent ban handed by the ICC forced Hasaranga to come out of test retirement.
Wanindu Hasaranga was found guilty of breaching Article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel. It relates to “showing dissent at an Umpire’s decision during an International Match.” The incident took place during the third ODI in the recently concluded series against Bangladesh. Hasaranga snatched his cap from one of the on-field umpires.
The Sri Lankan cricketer received a 50 per cent fine for his offence. He also accumulated three demerit points. This took his demerit points tally to eight in the last 24 months. Hasaranga was banned for two T20Is against Afghanistan and was also handed 5 demerit points. A total of eight demerit points, as per Article 7.6 of the Code, have been converted into four suspension points. This means, Hasaranga has to miss either 2 Tests or 4 ODIs or 4 T20Is, whatever comes first.
Reverses test retirement decision to play T20 World Cup
As Wanindu Hasaranga has four suspension points, he was supposed to miss the first four matches of Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign. To avoid missing the mega-event, Hasaranga came out of Test retirement. Sri Lanka is set to play two Test matches against Bangladesh, starting from March 22 in Sylhet. With the spinner coming out of retirement, he will now miss the two test matches due to the ban. This makes him available to play for Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup 2024.
South African cricketer, Tabraiz Shamsi reacted to Wanindu Hasaranga’s move. He wrote on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), “Well played sir… Well played”
Well played sir… Well played 💭 https://t.co/KzphSBVXm7
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) March 19, 2024
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