Biscuits banned from Sri Lankan dressing rooms, reveals Team Manager 

What’s the story?

According to a report on Mid-Day, Sri Lankan cricketers have been refrained from eating biscuits in the dressing room as per insights from team manager Asanka Gurusinha.

"Our physio and trainer are in charge of what food players eat while the game is going on. They have banned biscuits in the changing room," the team manager told Mid-Day.

"The other day there were biscuits in the changing room and I informed the catering staff to take them out as our trainer did not want the players to eat them. There was absolutely no argument with any player or support staff on this issue. In fact, the players were not even aware that biscuits were kept there," Gurusinha further revealed.

In case you didn’t know...

After Sri Lanka’s abysmal outing in the Champions Trophy 2017, the Sri Lankan government had warned the team to get fit in three months. Lasith Malinga’s fitness had particularly come under the scanner.

The heart of the matter

The Sri Lankan Cricket Team, once a force to reckon with, are going through a tough patch. After a group stage exit from the Champions Trophy, they were beaten by minnows Zimbabwe at home in an ODI series, which was followed by a whitewash at the hands of India in the Test series. Angelo Mathews relinquished his captaincy after the Zimbabwe debacle, following which Upul Tharanga was made the skipper in limited-overs cricket, while Dinesh Chandimal in Tests.

One of the reasons for Sri Lanka’s spineless outing against India can be the absence of some of their main players due to injuries.

What’s next?

India are scheduled to play five ODIs from 20 August to 3 September, which will be followed by a one-off T20I in Colombo on 6 September. Veteran batsman Yuvraj Singh has been left out of the ODI squad, and some of the star performers from the India ‘A’ team have been given a chance. This includes the likes of Manish Pandey, Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur.

Having whitewashed the Islanders 3-0, India will be looking to seal another series win by winning the ODI series.

Author’s take

That biscuits have now been banned in the Sri Lankan dressing room is proof that the team is leaving no stone unturned to resurrect its dominance in international cricket, and not miss a chance to directly qualify for the 2019 World Cup.