Sri Lankans are masters at exploiting loopholes and Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva has been a cut above the rest and the worst fear is that his latest distasteful episode where he has made a mockery of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) code of conduct has sent shock waves among the country’s sporting ambassadors.
Entering the bad books of the ICC for a second time in a month by going against an umpire ruling in the third ODI against Bangladesh on Monday, Hasaranga has proved he has become a law unto himself unable to handle new found fame and wealth.
Having acknowledged violating the ICC’s code of conduct Hasaranga has snobbishly gone against his own conviction by accepting the charge and then conveying to the sport’s global keeper that he will not serve a relevant T20 four-match ban that became automatic after his black marks or demerit points for misconduct breached the tolerant level.
Once the level is breached, according to the ICC’s code of conduct for cricketers, a player will be banned for either two Test matches or four ODI or T20 matches depending whichever comes first.
Sri Lanka has no T20 or ODI matches before the T20 World Cup in June this year with only Test cricket lined-up and having retired from the five-day format Hasaranga has re-entered the arena which is nothing but a convenient escape from reality.
By re-entering five-day Test cricket after despising and retiring from it last year having played just four matches and taken four wickets, Hasaranga has with the support of his locally blacklisted keeper Sri Lanka Cricket averted the ICC ban by being named in a 17-man squad for the current two-Test series against Bangladesh.
It is unusual for Sri Lanka to go beyond the names of 15 players for a Test series and the names of 17 players has made it obvious that SLC has also gone against its global partner the ICC in allowing Hasaranga to sit out two Test matches to overcome the ban.
For the record, SLC officials, the team Selectors and its Management that has mastered the art of hoodwinking a section of the media with hollow information, the latest drama surrounding Hasaranga has further exposed them to public wrath.
Hasaranga stands out as the only player that took on SLC and branded it a liar for saying that he was part of a plot for the team’s downfall at the 2023 World Cup.
While branding SLC a liar, Hasaranga posted pictures of him recovering from surgery in hospital as the reason for missing the World Cup.
