brand logo

Bhanuka Rajapaksa fiasco: Authorities blame SLC medical staff for being overly strict

21 Feb 2022

By Revatha S. Silva Sri Lanka squad for India T20I series Sri Lanka T20I Squad (18): Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Charith Asalanka (Vice Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kamil Mishara, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Binura Fernando, Shiran Fernando, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrama, and Ashian Daniel (subject to Ministerial approval) The players who were in the T20I squad which toured Australia but will now return to Sri Lanka due to injuries (3): Avishka Fernando, Nuwan Thushara, and Ramesh Mendis Schedule: The three T20Is will be played on Thursday (24), Saturday (26), and Sunday (27), all games starting at 7 p.m. The first match will be at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and the last two games are to be played at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala. =========  Sri Lanka white-ball cricket top-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s dilemma continues further. The other day he missed the Australian series for insufficient fitness standards and now he has been dropped from this month’s India series too, due to the same reason. His fateful decision to reverse an international retirement last month seems as if it is progressing to send Rajapaksa towards more and more uncertainty. He said adios to international cricket on 5 January and reversed his decision eight days later, probably expecting a smooth passage back to national duty but, alas, yesterday (21), he was overlooked for the second overseas series running. Selectors want him in He had to say adios to the Sri Lanka squad that was in a biosecure bubble based in a Colombo hotel. From there, he is back home and not to India, sadly. As per a SLC source, Rajapaksa’s name had been sent for air tickets and visas for the Indian tour before he found out yesterday that he was not included in the Indian tour party. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the National Selection Committee have allegedly been in unison to send Rajapaksa to India, as the player is clearly earmarked for Sri Lanka’s T20 International (T20I) World Cup campaign later this year. “The selectors are understandably unhappy. They had expected that the (SLC) doctors would have looked at other possible reasons as to why the player is not reducing his skin-fold levels consistently – such as genetic reasons,” the SLC source told The Morning Sports yesterday. “Rajapaksa has improved his skin-fold level drastically in the past months. The doctors could have considered those aspects before they failed him,” the source opined. Our report on 31 January “Bhanuka Rajapaksa who announced his international retirement at the age of 30 on 5 January and withdrew the same about eight days later, on 13 January, is now faced with a ‘neither here nor there’ situation,” The Morning Sports reported on 31 January in our sports page lead story under the title “Bhanuka Rajapaksa in dilemma”. Struggling to improve his fitness levels, he missed the Australia five-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series as well. The three-match T20I series in India, starting on Thursday (24), will be his second miss of a tour after his bizarre retirement decision. Reportedly, Rajapaksa fulfilled the 2 km fitness requirement but has not reached the required skin-fold level. Leagues participation in disarray? Further, all his plans to play in regional franchise cricket too must have gone awry now. According to reports, he had already missed one Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match due to his self-made blunder. He is, though, likely to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), set to begin in late March. Rajapaksa in fact was the only Sri Lankan batsman to be picked at the 2022 IPL auction. He was purchased by Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Indian Rs. 50 lakhs, approximately Sri Lanka Rs. 136 lakhs. His request turned down We reported earlier that Rajapaksa may have resigned in January only after the SLC Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) had rejected his request to get more time to improve his fitness levels. “He has not faced the fitness test for the Australia series. There could have been some understanding between Rajapaksa and the authorities with regard to his fitness before the Australian tour,” The Morning Sports reported, quoting a SLC source in our 31 January issue, prior to the Australian tour. A verbal assurance too? “It is difficult to say whether there was any verbal assurance when he changed his decision (to return to the international fold), that he would be allowed to make the Australian tour. But now (after he was dropped from the Australian tour), Rajapaksa is left with Hobson’s choice,” the source had further added at the time. Rajapaksa has played 18 T20Is and has scored 320 runs at an average of 26.66, while having a strike rate of 136.17.  


More News..