Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara expressed his views on the ongoing fitness fiasco within the Sri Lanka cricket team, at a cabinet media briefing held today(28).
He made it clear that the comments by him regarding player fitness, were not directed at any specific individual and the media had blown things out of proportion, creating a rift between him and Sri Lankan ace speedster, Lasith Malinga.
He stated that “I have never had a personal grudge with any player and the criticism was directed to the team since their fitness levels were questionable and I have proof of that”.
He went on to say that this issue is not only relevant to Sri Lanka Cricket but to the sporting community in Sri Lanka as a whole.
“This issue is relevant to all the other sports as well. All of this (issues relating to fitness) should be channeled through the Sports Medicine Institute. I am not prepared to sign off on squads if this procedure is not followed.”
The Sports Minister also confirmed that it was Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC) that decided to impose a year’s suspension sentence, suspended by six months (whereby the punishment would be imposed in the event of a similar infraction within the stipulated 6 month period) and a 50% fine of his next ODI against Malinga.
“I didn’t take any action against Lasith Malinga, it was the Sri Lanka Cricket(SLC) board that decided to take action against him for the comments he made”
He further mentioned that Malinga is a very important cog in the shorter formats for Sri Lanka and he wanted to see him performing well for Sri Lanka rather than sitting out due to off field drama.
“Malinga is a very talented and a valuable cricketer for Sri Lanka. He was very close to being suspended for a few games but I didn’t want that to happen”
The Sports Minister stressed on the importance of fitness to be a successful international athlete while the SLC and the Sports Ministry will be very strict on it in the future.
“The Sri Lankan team is very talented but it is very clear that they need to work on their fitness. We have decided to give them three months to work on their fitness and we will asses their progress and take necessary action”
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