Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka were on Monday sent back home from Sri Lanka’s ongoing limited-overs tour of England after being found guilty of breaching the bio-bubble in Durham.
The three of the visitors’ first-choice picks were seen roaming around at night in two controversial videos over social media. In one video, wicketkeeper-batsman Dickwella and vice-captain Mendis were seen at the sidelines of a road, while in the other opening batter, Gunathilaka can also be seen in their company.
Immediately after the videos did the rounds over Twitter and Facebook, Sri Lanka Cricket launched an investigation in the matter and found that the three players had gone against the previously agreed health safety guidelines for a tour played amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were reports that the trio could be reprimanded in the form of some heavy fine or be asked to go into another lengthy self-isolation. However, as it turned out, the SLC suspended Dickwella, Mendis and Gunathilaka and called them back home.
The trio will remain suspended until the completion of SLC’s enquiry, which threatens to rule them out of the upcoming home limited-overs series against India. They are anyway set to miss the ODIs against England, starting Tuesday.
Gunathilaka has been caught in such issues several times in the past, including when he was suspended for six matches back in 2017 over inappropriate conduct. He is said to have given a training session a miss after partying and had turned up for a match-day without his kit bag once. In 2018, Gunathilaka had been suspended by SLC in a case involving alleged sexual assault.
Mendis was jailed back in 2020 for running his car over a 64-year-old man in Panadura. He was then released on bail and appointed Sri Lanka’s vice-captain one year later.
The suspension of Dickwella, Gunathilaka, Mendis further weakens a struggling Sri Lankan side going through their worst ever period as an international team across formats. They were already missing senior pros Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, among others on this England trip due to fallout over contractual issues with the SLC and are now set to miss three more of their first XI players.
The incident in Durham took place only a day after Sri Lanka suffered a humiliating loss in the final T20I in Southampton to be whitewashed 3-0 in the series. They are now due to face the defending 50-over champions in a three-match ODI series, part of the ICC Super League, which determines direct qualification spots for the 2023 World Cup. Sri Lanka, who have had a horrible start to their campaign in the Super League already, will need something special to take the fight back to their mighty opposition in their own den.
