By Revatha S. Silva As fears of the Covid-19 pandemic recedes gradually and sports, particularly cricket, is slowly coming into play, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is now facing another decisive stumbling block - their former national Head Coach Chandika Hathurusingha has sued them for million dollars of compensation. Hathurusingha's case against SLC will be soon taken up by the International Court of Arbitration most likely in August, 'The Morning Sports' learnt. Five million dollars compensation  "The case is going to be taken up in Singapore, most probably in August when things become normal (in the pandemic). You can't still predict what dates exactly it could be, because of the ongoing international travel restrictions (due to the Covid-19 pandemic). He has asked for compensation in the range of about 5 million US dollars," a senior official of the current SLC ex-co told 'The Morning Sports'. Hathurusingha began his coaching career soon after retirement from his playing days, in 2005. He first coached the national team of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Canada before having successful contracts with the Australian state team, New South Wales (NSW). Fired earlier in 2010  "Singapore has probably been nominated as a place for the case because it is close to both parties. He (Hathurusingha) filed the case in the sports arbitration court based in Lusanne, Switzerland," the above SLC official explained. After the UAE stint, Hathurusingha was named coach of Sri Lanka 'A' team on a three-year contract. In 2009, he was named senior assistant to Sri Lanka's national coach, Trevor Bayliss. But he was fired from his position in June 2010, when D.S. de Silva was at the helm of SLC, due to disciplinary reasons, upon his returning early from a tour of Zimbabwe, allegedly to attend a coaching course in Australia. He was later asked to leave in spite of the then Sri Lanka Captain Kumar Sangakkara's request for him to be retained in the position. Didn't like demotion  "The SLC wanted to demote him and put into Under-19 or something. But he didn't agree. The contract (between SLC and Hathurusingha) is such that either party is leaving it, they have to pay for the entire remaining months of the contract," the official further added. Hathurusingha later obtained permanent residency in Australia where he is staying now. Stint with NSW  He was later a coaching consultant for the Canada national cricket team at the 2011 World Cup in the Asian subcontinent. He was later appointed assistant coach of NSW in September 2011, on a two-year contract. When its senior coach Anthony Stuart was dismissed from the position in December 2012, Hathurusingha was named acting coach of NSW for the remainder of the season. Hathurusingha then remained as NSW senior assistant coach under Bayliss for the 2013–14 season. Successful Bangladesh stint  Before his much-talked-about stint with the Bangladeshi national team, he coached Sydney Thunder franchise in the Big Bash League in Australia. Hathurusingha is considered the most successful coach to ever get involved in Bangladesh cricket, with ODI series victories against India, Pakistan, and South Africa. Test victories during his time include those against Sri Lanka (away), England, and Australia. His tenure there spanned from May 2014 to November 2017, when he was controversially roped in by SLC. Appalling performance  'Hathu' was subject of huge criticism, though, owing to the appalling performance of the Sri Lanka national team under his watch since December 2017. Sri Lanka lost 11 out of their 21 Tests, 29 out of 44 ODIs, and eight out of their 12 T20Is when he was the Sri Lanka Head Coach. Hathurusingha faced the axe after the team's dismal performance at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. He was replaced by South African Mickey Arthur in December last year, prompting him to seek legal action. Hathurusingha was parted ways with SLC permanently in August 2019 after months of heated deliberations. Similar case with Marsh  Independent observers criticised SLC for entering a strict contract with the Coach going only by his credentials with the Bangladeshis. Others argued it was needed to have such a tight contract because of the circumstances prevailed at the time when the national team was performing extremely poorly. SLC nine years ago faced a similar case when an outgoing Head Coach, Geoff Marsh, sued them successfully after being unceremoniously dumped from his job