COLOMBO: At least 10 Sri Lankan players, including T20 skipper LasithMalinga and former captains Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera, pulled outof the upcoming tour of Pakistan citing security concerns, officials saidMonday.
The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board said players in a preliminary squad werebriefed on security arrangements for the six-match limited over seriesstarting September 27 and and given the freedom to decide if they wanted totravel.
Following the briefing, ten players “chose to stay away” from the series ofthree One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 (T20) games,scheduled to begin on September 27 in Karachi, it said.
The other seven who opted out were Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera,Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Dinesh Chandimal, andDimuth Karunaratne.
The SLC’s chief security adviser, Roshan Goonatileke, had informed the SriLankan cricketers about the Pakistani Cricket Board’s (PCB) securityarrangements that he observed during his visit.’Very tight security’
The tour was seen as another step towards reviving international cricket inPakistan after years of isolation.
Following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus during a Test matchin Lahore in March 2009, a majority of international teams have refused totour the South Asian country.link link
Batter Danushka Gunathilaka said he believed security would be adequate.”From what they told us, I think there will be very tight security,”Gunathilaka said.
The Sri Lankans returned to Pakistan for a Twenty20 international in Lahorein October 2017 when Perera led the team. This time, he has decided to stayaway.’Should not make a difference’
The PCB, on the other hand, said the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series would beheld according to the schedule.
“It should not make a difference if senior [Sri Lankan] players come ornot,” it added, noting that the cricketers opting out of the series wastheir internal matter and that the SLC chooses the players.
The Pakistan-Sri Lanka series starts September 27 and is scheduled toconclude on October 9, 2019.
Separately, Sri Lanka are also to play two Test matches against Pakistanbut the dates and the venue are yet to be announced. The country’s sportsminister, Harin Fernando, has rejected playing the longer versions of thegame in Pakistan and suggested the Tests be played in the United ArabEmirates (UAE), where Pakistan have played many of their home series.-APP/AFP