After the third one-day match in which there was a heavy defeat against India, many Lankan players have left India on the same day for foreign countries to play in the T20 league matches. Less than half of the team has returned to Sri Lanka after the tour of India, and the no-objection certificate (NOC) to those players to participate in overseas Twenty20 league matches, skipping two weekends of National Super League matches has led to criticism. It is further reported that there are many national level players who are going to participate in the National Super League four-day cricket tournament starting tomorrow (19).
The four-day tournament is crucial for the selection of the Sri Lankan team that will take part in a Test and ODI tour of New Zealand in the first week of March, and many players who are likely to be included in the Test squad will thus miss two weekends of National Super League matches. Cricket sources mentioned that the players who are the captain and vice-captain of several teams in the tournament have also joined for the foreign T20 league matches.
The National Super League gives players the opportunity to sharpen their skills as needed for the New Zealand Test series, but the cricket body has blamed the players concerned for missing the opening event of the tournament. Cricket sources further stated that it is a sad situation.
The majority of those players are currently participating in the International League Twenty20 (ILT20) tournament being held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and a few other players are participating in the ‘SA20’ tournament being held for the first time in South Africa. Meanwhile, it was also reported that some of the players nominated for the third one-day match, which suffered a record defeat against India, tried hard to miss the match in the hope of going to Dubai and South Africa T20 without injury.
But cricket experts say that physical fitness is an extremely important factor for the players for a four-day match. Experts point out that a payment of Rs 100,000 has been paid to the players playing in the four-day match of the National Super League held for the first time last year.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Chamika Karunaratne will represent Dubai Capitals in the International League Twenty20 (ILT20) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, along with Sri Lankan ODI and T20 captain Dasun Shanaka, while Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva and Lahiru Kumara will represent Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. Wanindu Hasaranga joins another team, Desert Vipers. Kusal Mendis will represent Pretoria Capitals in the South Africa Twenty20, Maheesh Thiekshana will join Joburg Super Kings and Dilshan Madushanka will join Durban Super Giants.
In this year’s National Super League, Kusal Mendis has been appointed as the captain of the Colombo team, while Dhananjaya de Silva has been appointed as the captain of the Jaffna team. Chamika Karunaratne has been appointed as the vice-captain of the Kandy team.
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