ICC World Cup 2023: Sri Lanka sack entire cricket board after humiliating defeat against India

Sri Lanka has dismissed the entire board of its cricket governing body following a disappointing ICC World Cup 2023 campaign. 

In a statement on Monday, the country’s ministry of sport confirmed they have dismissed the board and replaced it with an interim committee.

This came just days after their humiliating 302-run defeat at the hands of India, when their whole team perished on just 55. 

Minister of Sports Roshan Ranasinghe publicly demanded the entire board’s resignations and called them “traitorous and corrupt”. 

The secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket Mohan de Silva resigned from his post on Saturday as fans protested in front of its headquarters. 

And today the ministry of sport has announced the sacking of the remaining board members, replacing them with an interim committee. 

It is said that former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga has been appointed as the chairman of the interim committee. 

Ranatunga will be joined by a retired supreme court judge and a former board president. 

Disappointing World Cup campaign 

Sri Lanka were not the favourites for the ICC World Cup 2023 but a far better performance was expected from them than they have shown so far in the tournament. 

The Lions lost their opening three matches to South Africa, Pakistan and Australia. But subsequent victories over Netherlands and England restored some hope for the 1996 world champions. 

However, the Kusal Mendis-led side slumped to a disappointing seven-wicket loss to Afghanistan last month. 

Sri Lanka posted a meagre 241 target, which was comfortably chased down by Afghanistan thanks to impressive knocks from Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi. 

If the Lions still had some hopes left in the tournament, then it was almost completely crushed by India last week. 

The Men in Blue posted a formidable 358 target before bowling their rivals out for just 55, winning the contest by an incredible 302 runs. 

The Kusal Mendis-led side could have been out for even a lower total as they were 14/6 in the 10th over. 

Sri Lanka will now hope to give some joy to their fans by winning today’s World Cup match against Bangladesh at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.  

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