5 Sri Lanka Players Including Lasith Embuldeniya And Lahiru Kumara Refuse To Sign Contracts For India Series

Sri Lankan cricket is undergoing a terrible phase whether it is on the field or off the field, they can’t catch a break it seems. While the Sri Lankan team is getting hammered by England in the white-ball series in England; at home, the contract dispute is just not dying at all, with the fresh news of five Sri Lankan players including Lasith Embuldeniya And Lahiru Kumara refusing to sign on for India series.

The five players do not want to sign on the dotted line for the upcoming white-ball series at home against India, which includes 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is, all of which will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo with the first ODI starting from July 13.

Also, it has been reported that the five players- Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, and Kasun Rajitha have been left out of the residential camps and have not joined the bio bubble in Dambulla and Colombo for India series.

If They Sign Tour Agreement, Selectors Will Consider Them: SLC CEO

Ashley de Silva, the CEO of SLC stated that till the time national contract issue is not resolved, the players were asked to sign a tour contract for the India series and confirm if they will be available for the 6 limited-overs matches. However, the said five players were reluctant to sign the contract and were left out.

“Until the national contract issue is resolved they were asked to sign the tour contract if they are going to be available for the Indian series so that they can go into a bubble as we are investing in them. But they were reluctant to sign the tour contract and therefore they were left out of the residential camps. They did not join the bubble in Dambulla or Colombo,” said Ashley de Silva, the CEO of SLC.

De Silva settled by saying that if these players sign the contract before training for the India series starts, they will be considered for selection.

“These five were offered a tour contract. That is when you participate, they will also be considered for national selection for the Indian tour. For the Indian tour, you need to have a tour contract, which they didn’t sign as they are part of the 24 players offered national contracts. If they sign the tour agreement before the commencement of training for the Indian tour the selectors will consider them,” concluded De Silva.

Sri Lanka players on the England tour have also signed similar contracts since there has been an issue with payment tiers in the new national contracts been offered and the issue of deducting quite a bit of annual retainers of many senior players.

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