Suspended trio claim to have left team hotel to collect take-away food

By Bipin Dani

The three cricketers, Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka, who were suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Monday after breaching the team’s bio-secure bubble in Durham, claim they went out of the team hotel (Radisson Blu) to bring food from outside.

This was their claim in their defense, it is learnt.

According to sources, all three went out of the team hotel for about two or three hours.

"They claimed to have gone for a walk and also brought some take-away parcels (chicken and lamb) from a nearby restaurant. The players were instructed not to go beyond the City Centre but in the preliminary enquiry with the team manager (Manuja Kariapperuma) they claimed ignorance about the City Centre location,” the source in Colombo, said.

"All three denied having gone to a nightclub or pub.”

In the video, Mendis is seen preparing to smoke.

"Yes, he smokes occasionally, but is not a chain smoker,” the source added.

They returned to Colombo on Tuesday afternoon and will be quarantined in a hotel in Negombo.