|| CF DESK ||

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has come down hard on the trio of Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka and Niroshan Dickwella, who broke bio-bubble protocols in England. Ranatunga stated that if he had been the captain of the national side now, he might have slapped the players two or three times.

After the collapse in the T20 series the change in the format has not helped the visitors as they have already lost the ODI series 2-0, with a game to go. With the team facing problems one after the other, the bio-bubble saga by Mendis, Gunathilaka, and Dickwella has not gone well with Ranatunga, former Sri Lankan players, and fans.

 “I would not allow the players to play with social media. They use Facebook, Instagram and do everything other than playing cricket. The Cricket administration was doing nothing about that. They only want publicity. If I was the captain of the team, these three players would have been clever players. I may have to slap them two or three times,” Ranatunga told Daily Mirror.

On the other hand, Sangakkara hopes the trio will be given a chance to improve themselves while they face sanctions.

“The three players are very senior players, one the vice-captain (Kusal Mendis). There will be an inquiry and there will be a sanction. I hope that support and counseling will be made available to keep developing them, not just skill-wise as cricketers but more as people, to get them really focused on living a positive lifestyle on and off the field.”