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Arjuna Ranatunga slams SLC for hosting 'second string Indian team'

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga has slammed the Sri Lanka cricket association for hosting a “second string Indian Team”. India will be up against Sri Lanka in white-ball fixtures scheduled to begin on July 13. 

“This is a second string Indian team and their coming here is an insult on our cricket. I blame the current administration for agreeing to play with them due to television marketing needs,” Ranatunga said. 

With the first-choice players including captain Virat Kohli and his limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma on a tour of England, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sent another team to Sri Lanka for three ODIs and as many T20Is. The team will be led by white-ball specialist Shikhar Dhawan and boasts an excellent mixture of experience and talent. The tour might see the debut of the likes of Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad. The series will also have ace Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar who made his return against England in the white ball format earlier this year.

“India sent their best team to England and sent a weaker side to play here. I blame our board for that,” he added. 

The selectors have included some new names in the squad. Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana, K Gowtham, Chetan Sakariya are some of the players who have received the India call-up for this series. 

Former India captain Rahul Dravid has accompanied the team as the head coach. 

India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya


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Five Sri Lanka players refuse to sign tour contracts ahead of India series

Sri Lanka’s off the field issues have become a cause of concern for the board. Now as many five players, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, and Kasun Rajitha have refused to sign the tour contract by the SLC for the India series. “Until the national contract issue is resolved they were asked to sign the tour contract if they are going to be available for the Indian series so that they can go into a bubble as we are investing in them. But they were reluctant to sign the tour contract and therefore they were left out of the residential camps. They did not join the bubble in Dambulla or Colombo,” said SLC CEO Ashley de Silva. The players have the time to sign the contracts before the commencement of the training. “These five were offered a tour contract. That is when you participate, they will also be considered for national selection for the Indian tour. For the Indian tour, you need to have a tour contract, which they didn’t sign as they are part of the 24 players offered national contracts. If they sign the tour agreement before the commencement of training for the Indian tour the selectors will consider them,” added De Silva. The white-ball fixtures between India and Sri Lanka are scheduled to begin on July 13. This is not the first time that the SLC has encountered such a problem. The board had faced criticism from the players as according to them the new annual contracts lacked transparency. 38 players had then refused to sign the contracts. “Because of the problems with the transparency of the ratings system devised by SLC, the players will not sign the tour contract," the release signed by 38 top players had stated. Sri Lanka’s tour of England had come under dark clouds but eventually the players travelled to the UK for the T20I and ODI series.