Sri Lankan fans join hands launching a campaign supporting the sacking of Thilanga Sumathipala

Looking at the never ending dismal performances of their team, Sri Lankan fans have organized a campaign supporting the sacking of President of Sri Lankan Cricket, Thilanga Sumathipala. Since the politician took over the post in 2015, the entire scenario of the sport in the country changed. The retirements of Jayawardena and Sangakkara saw Sri Lanka struggle in the longer formats of the game since then.

Sri Lanka since then has been on a losing streak after their exit in the Champions Trophy. They lost to Zimbabwe in the ODI series by a margin of 3-2. They then lost the Test series against India as the visitors whitewashed the series by 3-nil. Yesterday, at Pallekele, Sri Lankans were on the verge of losing yet another series before the angry spectators started hurling bottles and objects at the ground.

The play was halted for more than half an hour, as the ground staff started cleaning the mess in the vicinity of the boundaries while police tried to control the crowd. The attendants of the match were asked to leave before play resumed after the break. This was perhaps the worst day in the history of Sri Lankan cricket as such incidents have never occurred in the country.

The anguish wasn’t just limited to the stadium as the fanatics fans of Sri Lanka cricket asked the President not to support those, who lost their seats and are making Cricket lose too. Although, they are still disappointed that the President is not taking any firm steps against Sumathipala. In the sphere of social media as well, masses are blaming Sumathipala for the recent debacle in Sri Lanka cricket.

Sumathipala accused of indulging in betting and gambling links

Some of them even suggested to remove the Lion from the Sri Lankan cricket emblem and replace them with a horse which symbolized the gambling and the betting links of Sumathipala. Slogans of ‘India has IPL, Australia has Big Bash, Bangladesh has BPL, Pakistan has PSL but Sri Lanka the new version of Sri Lanka Sporting Star!’ have become popular across social media.

Arjuna Ranatunga has also been vocal about the sacking of Thilanga Sumathipala and launched a petition campaign against Sumathipala and Co, by having a press conference today to inform media about the letter given to President Maithripala Sirisena and prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.