Sri Lankan players back out of Pakistan tour because of security issues
Sri Lanka cricket team denied the allegations that they were influenced by India to pull out their major players from the Pakistan tour. Sri Lankan Sports Minister Harin Fernando tweeted that the reports were not true.
‘No truth to reports that India influenced Sri Lankan players not to play in Pakistan. Some decided not to play purely based on 2009 incident. Respecting their decision we picked players who were willing to travel. We have a full-strength team & we hope to beat Pakistan in Pakistan’, said the sports minister.
Yesterday, 10 major players from Sri Lanka opted to back out from the tour because of security threats. The players who backed out from the tour were:
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Niroshan Dickwella
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Kusal Janith Perera
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Dhananjaya De Silva
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Thisara Perera
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Akila Dhananjaya
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Lasith Malinga
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Angelo Mathews
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Suranga Lakmal
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Dinesh Chandimal
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Dimuth Karunatatne
Sri Lanka Cricket Board said that they received a tip from a reliable source about the threats to the team. They cleared out that India wasn’t involved in the players’ decision pull out from the tour.
The Pakistan Cricket Board, on the other hand, said that they didn't receive any information relating to the alleged threats to the players.
‘We have seen the SLC statement, but are not privy to any information or intelligence report relating to the safety of the SL team', said PCB in a tweet.
‘The PCB reiterates its commitment to provide complete safety and security to the SL side and in this relation will continue to work with the SLC’, they added.
The team is scheduled to play three sets of ODIs and T20Is for the tour.
In 2009, the Sri Lankan team’s bus was attacked by terrorists. Eight people were killed while several others were injured. Pakistan has not hosted international tours since the incident happened.
The Sri Lanka Tour of Pakistan is scheduled in September and October 2019. To more about cricket matches and leagues, read articles on Betwala.
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