Former great Kumar Sangakkara has rejected an offer by Sports Minister Faizer Musthapha to join Sri Lanka Cricket as a consultant. Earlier, Sangakkara’s former colleagues – Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan and Roshan Mahanama – too had firmly rejected the offer.
Read : Murali and Mahanama turn down SLC’s consultancy request
The former captain, who led Sri Lanka to two ICC finals – ICC World T-20 in 2009 and ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 – had forwarded a letter to SLC turning down the request, SLC sources informed The Island.
Sangakkara, who was named as a National Selector by Thilanga Sumathipala’s Executive Committee in 2016, had joined a special committee appointed by former Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara to recommend changes needed for SLC.
Read : Jayawardene responds to Minister’s request
While reiterating the need to change the Sports Law and amend SLC constitution, Sri Lanka’s highest run getter in Test and ODI cricket, Sangakkara mentioned that the six months he served on the special committee was a waste of time as the recommendations were not implemented.
Full Text of Sangakkara’s letter addressed to Minister of Sports:
“I wish to humbly thank you for this kind invitation. However, I am respectfully declining the same in light of my past experiences serving on a similar committee under the invitation of the former Minister of Sports. I spent over six months on that particular advisory committee and found it to be an abject waste of time as none of our recommendations were implemented or heeded.
Although it may seem unfair to judge your invitation to be of a similar vein and intent to the one mentioned above, please excuse me if I view it with a sense of scepticism. I firmly believe that what is needed for SLC is not temporary band-aids and short term quick fixes, but lasting and permanent change.
There are many cricketers and administrators with genuine intentions that will not come forward with their time, efforts and ideas as time and time again they feel they have been taken advantage of and used as pawns to buy time for political manoeuvring.
If you, Sir, are able to establish genuine bona fides and harness the support and commitment of H. E. The President of Sri Lanka, the Hon. Prime Minister and all other relevant public officials to make the required revisions, changes and amendments to the constitution of SLC and to the Sports Law, I am sure that you will receive the full co-operation of myself, the larger cricketing fraternity, and the public.
I would like to once again thank you, Sir, for your thoughts and this invitation and I wish you all success.”
Read : Sanga, Mahela, Murali, Aravinda and Roshan requested to be SLC consultants
