Sri Lanka cricketers who don’t sign national contracts will be excluded from squad for India series

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has set a deadline of July 8 to resolve the ongoing contract rows in the team. The players have been offered 36 hours to sign contentious national contracts. Any player failing to do so will be excluded from the squad for the home series against India, which starts on July 13.

The SLC and Sri Lanka cricketers declared a temporary truce as the players agreed to sign a tour contract for the England tour. The tour ended disastrously with Sri Lanka losing both (T20I and ODI) series. Three players were also sent back for breaching the bio-bubble.

The Sri Lankan cricketers had earlier defied the June 3 deadline to sign new contracts, citing a lack of transparency in the process. However, the players clarified that they were willing to represent the national side even if they weren’t paid salaries due to the contract dispute.

Reportedly, the players believe that the remuneration proposed was more than three times lower than the payments made to the players from other countries.

Sri Lanka in white-ball formats:Last 9 ODIs:Lost 7Won 1No result 1Last 14 T20Is;Lost 12Won 1No result 1#Cricket

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) July 4, 2021

SLC had announced contracts for 24 cricketers under four categories. Only six players are placed in the A category, with their salaries ranging between USD 70,000-100,000. Dhananjaya de Silva draws the highest amount among the players while the others receive salaries in the range of USD 70,000-80,000.

India’s limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka begins July 13

A new-look Indian limited-overs side will take on Sri Lanka from July 13. The tour will start with three ODIs, which will be played on July 13, 16 and 18. The T20I series starts on July 21. The second and third matches will be played on July 23 and 25. The teams will play all the matches at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

📸 Snapshots from India national team's Intra-Squad practice match at SSC grounds.#SLvIND pic.twitter.com/2vNJvu4IwN

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) July 5, 2021

With their leading players touring England, the Indian contingent touring Sri Lanka is led by Shikhar Dhawan. Rahul Dravid is the side's head coach.

Earlier, former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga had commented that Indian team management sending a ‘second-string’ team is an insult to Sri Lankan cricket. Several former Indian cricketers expressed disappointment at Ranatunga’s ‘disrespectful’ comments.