Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella And Danushka Gunathilaka Likely To Be Banned For One Year By SLC For Bio-Bubble Breach On England Tour-Report

Sri Lanka Cricket Board, reportedly, has decided to punish the trio of Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, and Danushka Gunathilaka for their bio-bubble breach on the recent tour of England, by handing them a one-year ban each.

This big decision was taken by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Wednesday (June 30), after the three cricketers were dropped from the ODI squad and were asked to fly back home after videos and clips surfaced on social media of them breaking the COVID-19 protocols and getting out of the team hotel in Durham.

Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella And Danushka Gunathilaka To Be Out Of Action Until June 2022, May Miss T20 World Cup 2021- Report

The trio of Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, and Danushka Gunathilaka was seen breaching the bio-bubble and spending time at a public place in Durham after Sri Lanka’s 3-0 T20I series defeat against England. A video of them sharing a smoking substance in public had also gone viral. The three Sri Lankan cricketers have faced massive backlash from the fans since then.

The trio also had admitted that they had gone towards Durham’s City Centre, a place where they had been categorically asked to avoid. Mendis and Dickwella were even seen smoking in the streets of Durham.

The three players arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday afternoon, and are currently in a 14-day quarantine and now face a minimum one-year ban and hefty fines depending on the outcome of their inquiries.

“They are likely to get a minimum one-year suspension if found guilty of several breaches of their contract,” one official had earlier told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Now as per reports, SLC has decided to ban the three cricketers for 1 year. As a result, they will also miss the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in UAE and Oman in October-November.

Their absence will be a big blow to Sri Lanka’s chances, given that they have not earned a direct entry into the Super 12 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup. They will have to play the qualifying round to secure a berth in the next stage.

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