Five Sri Lankan players refuse to sign contracts for series against India, left out of residential camps

There are some problems in the Sri Lankan cricket team for sure. News has come in that five Sri Lankan cricketers have been left out of the residential camps and have not joined the bio bubble that is in place in Dambulla and Colombo for the limited-overs series against India.

The five cricketers are Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, and Kasun Rajitha. Sri Lankan Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva stated that these five cricketers were asked to sign a contract and enter into the bio bubble that is put in place.

But then, these players did not sign the contract and as a result, will not be joining the residential camps for the series against India.

“Until the national contract issue is resolved they were asked to sign the tour contract if they are going to be available for the Indian series so that they can go into a bubble as we are investing in them. But they were reluctant to sign the tour contract and therefore they were left out of the residential camps. They did not join the bubble in Dambulla or Colombo,” said Ashley de Silva, the CEO of SLC.

If they sign tour agreement, selectors will consider them: SLC CEO

Ashley De Silva further stated that a tour contract should have been signed by the players, but they refused to do so. De Silva concluded by saying that if these players sign the contract before training starts for the series against India, they will be considered for selection.

“These five were offered a tour contract. That is when you participate, they will also be considered for national selection for the Indian tour. For the Indian tour, you need to have a tour contract, which they didn’t sign as they are part of the 24 players offered national contracts. If they sign the tour agreement before the commencement of training for the Indian tour the selectors will consider them,” concluded De Silva.

India will play a limited-overs series consisting of 3 ODIS and 3 T20Is against Sri Lanka. The series will commence on 13th July 2021.