Sports Minister calls for inquiry into Chamika’s omission

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe has called for the Director General of the Ministry’s Sports Department to conduct an inquiry into the omission of all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne by the national Cricket selection Committee for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Afghanistan.

The Minister also requested the Director General to look into if team selections were influenced by any religious group, referring to allegations made by several Members of Parliament.

The Minister also requested the Director General to investigate if Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials and non-officials were paid a daily per diem of 800 US dollars when they travelled for the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup in Australia.

Sri Lanka’s squad for the three-match series, which starts on Friday, has not yet been officially named, and it is reported that the Minister had not yet approved the list over the omission of Karunaratne.

News of the directive came on the same day SLC handed Karunaratne a one-year suspended ban after he pleaded guilty to charges levelled against him at an inquiry conducted by a SLC disciplinary committee looking into several breaches of conduct during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which concluded in Australia.

While the nature of the violations was not specified in a media release issued by SLC, they were considered serious by the disciplinary committee.

“Considering the seriousness of the violations committed by Mr. Karunaratne, the Inquiry Panel by its report has recommended to the Executive Committee of the SLC to strongly warn the player to refrain from further violations and to impose a punishment that will not have an impact on his cricketing career,” the SLC media release read.

“Subsequent to the said findings and recommendations of the inquiry panel the Executive Committee of SLC has handed a one-year ban from taking part in all forms of Cricket, and the said ban will be suspended for a period of one year.”

“And further to the said suspended sentence a fine of USD 5,000/- was also imposed against Mr. Karunaratne,” the release further added.

The provisional Sri Lanka squad has already begun training for the ODI series in Kandy.