Seniors Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne Refuse To Travel Pakistan: Report

Sri Lanka’s limited-overs series against Pakistan in Pakistan could be in jeopardy after senior players’ refusal to travel to the country. As per a report in BBC Urdu, Lasith Malinga, Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews have denied travelling to the country.

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Malinga is Sri Lanka’s T20I captain while Karunaratne is the ODI of the side. Mathews is one of the senior members of the Sri Lankan team. With the senior players backing out, the juniors are expected to follow the suit which could lead to the limited-overs series being shifted out of the country.

In 2017, Sri Lanka travelled to Pakistan to play one T20I of the three T20Is series in Pakistan. Few of the Sri Lankan players had withdrawn from that series as well. Sri Lanka had named just one squad for the complete series, that saw seniors miss those matches. Should SL name just one squad for the complete series, senior players will again miss out on playing.

As per the schedule, Sri Lanka will play three ODIs in Karachi and three T20Is in Lahore from September 27 to October 9.

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Earlier, reports had suggested that Sri Lanka might play a Test match there but later, it was confirmed that both the teams will be playing a limited-overs series.

It remains to be seen if Sri Lanka play the white-ball cricket in Pakistan or not. The two teams are also scheduled to play the two-match Test series later in UAE.

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Pakistan are yet to play competitive cricket since World Cup 2019. The Sarfraz Ahmed-led side could not make it to the second stage of the tournament.

Since then, changes have been made to their support staff as well. Misbah-ul-Haq was appointed as Pakistan’s head coach with Waqar Younis taking over as bowling coach.

It is also not confirmed whether Sarfaraz Ahmed will continue to lead Pakistan or will there be a change in captaincy.

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As far as Sri Lanka are concerned, Rumesh Ratnayake was named their interim coach after the World Cup. Interestingly, they haven’t parted ways with Chandika Hathurusingha.