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Sri Lanka Fans Start Unfollowing Cricketers After Series Whitewash Against England

Sri Lanka fans start unfollowing cricketers after series whitewash against England

After facing an embarrassing 89-run defeat at the hands of England in the final T20I, consequently succumbing to a 0-3 whitewash, the Sri Lankan fans expressed their disappointment by launching a campaign to boycott their players on social media platforms. Barring the second encounter where they got a sniff courtesy, their brilliant bowling performance, the visitors never looked like seizing the initiative in any part of the three games. This is Sri Lank’s fifth consecutive series loss in this format.

With the hashtag #unfollowcricketers trending on Facebook on Sunday, several Sri Lankan fans unfollowed the pages of vice-captain Kusal Mendis and opening batsman Dhanushka Gunathilaka which was confirmed by the newscenter.lk website.

"The aim of the campaign is to unfollow failed Sri Lankan cricketers from their verified profiles on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter," the website said.

Several fans also shared memes across social media circles urging fans to stop watching the national team on television following one of their worst performances ever on English soil.

"Don't let them have the social media attention if they can't perform for the national team. They do not deserve massive fan bases,” said a Twitter user.

While there wasn’t any reaction from the senior Sri Lankan players but the fans lashing out at the players were quite understandable given the current form of the Lankan side and the rich history they boast of.

There was no immediate reaction from any of the senior players, but some observers posted that the latest performance in England was one of the team's worst in three decades.

"I have been watching cricket matches since 1993 but I have never seen such a weak Sri Lankan cricket team. They can’t hit the ball,” sports reporter Manjula Basnayake wrote on his Twitter handle.

Sri Lanka will look to redeem themselves when they meet England in the first of the three ODIs slated to be played at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, 29 June.

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Tiff with Hasan Ali in South Africa led Younis Khan's resignation as batting coach: Reports

The resignation of Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan came as a surprise to many just before his side’s limited-overs tour of England. He resigned on June 22 despite having a two-year contract till the end of the 2022 T20 World Cup. While it was earlier believed that both parted ways mutually it has now come to light that he had a fallout with Pakistan speedster Hasan Ali and didn’t have the greatest of relationships with many national players. Reports in PakPassion.net stated that he had a verbal spat with Hasan Ali during the tour of South Africa which escalated to a level that other staff members had to intervene and put them aside. The reports further claimed that Hasan Ali had refused to take an ice bath after a T20I encounter during the South Africa tour and when Younis asked him to follow the team protocols on the complaint of trainer Yasir Malik, both indulge in an ugly verbal spat. While Waqar Younis tried to solve the matter by asking Hasan Ali to apologise, Younis Khan was disappointed with Hasan Ali’s action and didn’t indulge in any sort of discussions and remained pretty reserved for the rest of the tour. It must be noted that Team Manager Mansoor Rana tried to keep the incident under the carpet as he was elevated to the role of a manager owing to his close association with Director International Cricket, Zakir Khan and tried to uphold his position of strength in the governing body. Meanwhile, PCB chief executive Wasim Khan had expressed his disappointment at parting ways with Younis Khan and said that while they were reluctant to let him go but they eventually decided mutually to part ways. "It is sad to lose an expert of the stature and experience of Younis Khan. Following a series of discussions, we both have reluctantly but mutually and amicably agreed that it was time to move in different directions,” Wasim Khan said. "I want to thank Younis Khan for his contributions during his short stint as the Pakistan men's national cricket team's batting coach and hope he will remain available to assist the PCB by sharing his vast knowledge with the emerging cricketers," he added.

Reports: Third tier Melbourne Club close to striking deal with Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle

If reports in cricket.com.au are to be believed, a Melbourne based cricket club is just a few steps away from signing bigwigs of the game Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle for their T20 games this summer. The Mulgrave Cricket Club who takes part in Melbourne’s Eastern Cricket Association (ECA) third-tier competition stated that the club is within touching distance of signing both Yuvraj and Gayle while they are also in talks with Windies legend Brian Lara and Mr 360 AB de Villiers. Earlier this club had secured the services of Tillekeratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga besides signing a contract of the head coach with Sanath Jayasuriya. Speaking on the same, Mulgrave President Milan Pullenayegam said that they are almost 85-90 per cent sure about their chances of signing Yuvraj and Gayle as they have already signed big players in the past. "We've secured Dilshan, we've secured Sanath, we've secured Tharanga. And now we are working on finalising agreements with a few other potential players," Pullenayegam told cricket.com.au. "We are in negotiations, and with Chris (Gayle) and Yuvraj we are nearly 85 to 90 per cent there. We need to finalise a few things but it looks really good." he added. However, both Gayle and Yuvraj is to comment on this development. The president is hoping to bring in more sponsors which will enable them to sign some big names of the cricketing circuit. "We've got a good backing at the moment that will get us across the line, but we don't want to be just breaking even on it, we want to be able to give back the community and expand the structure of the club,” he said. "It's a process, with these big-name players there's a lot of things we need to incorporate into their visits to Australia: we'll provide them with accommodation, their travel, food etcetera, there is a lot of background stuff we need to organise for them. "While here we want to put them in contact with our sponsors and see if they can give something back to the club and sponsors. So it's all part of the negotiations and chats we are having with them,” the president further explained. The third tier T20 Cup will comprise of three preliminary matches before a knockout stage including three more games between November and February. Meanwhile, it must be noted that any international player is only likely to play one or two matches.

If you do well at this level, selectors will notice: Dravid signals great opportunity for youngsters

The Indian team travelling to Sri Lanka for the limited-over series in July would have a lot of youngsters eager to make a name for themselves and try to push their case for a place in the national squad for the T20 World Cup. The team’s coach on the tour, Rahul Dravid believes that it would be a great opportunity for openers like Prithvi Shaw, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devdutt Padikkal to try and get into selectors’ minds. “For a lot more people other than Prithvi as well… someone like Devdutt Padikkal or Ruturaj Gaikwad, a lot of the younger boys will be extremely keen to do well,” Dravid said in a virtual press conference before the team’s departure to Sri Lanka. “Whether they get called up for the T20 WC is for the selectors to take. But certainly, a good performance against international oppositions will help,” Dravid further said, signalling players to pull up their socks and perform out of their skins. The great wall of India, as he is known also let players know that it wasn’t a make or break tour either, as he said that one tour could not decide anybody’s future, but performing well matter all the same. “If you can do well at this level, the selectors will certainly take note. No tour is a life and death situation; it’s not like just because you do well against Sri Lanka, you’ll make it, or vice versa. But performing in the pressure of international cricket, the selectors will certainly take note,” said Dravid.

ENG vs SL | 3rd T20I: Miserable Sri Lanka surrender yet again to suffer 3-0 whitewash

The same old story continued for the visiting Sri Lankan side in their tour of England as they went down by 89 runs in the final T20I to face a whitewash at the hands of the No 1 side in the T20I format. After losing the first two matches while batting first, Sri Lankan skipper Kusal Perera decided to chase but that didn’t change their fortunes. In the absence of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler, it was Dawid Malan who came out to open the innings with Jonny Bairstow. Malan did a commendable job in an unusual position for him and shared a 105 runs stand with Bairstow for the opening wicket. Both the batsmen struck some exceptional shots during their stay which set the foundation for the rest of the batsmen to go berserk in the last stretch of the innings. While Bairstow did take his time, Malan maintained an exceptional strike rate and reached his 2nd T20I fifty opening the batting. Bairstow was dismissed by a well-disguised slower delivery by Isuru Udana in the 12th over but Malan on the other end kept going. Liam Livingstone also looked in good touch but his wicket opened the floodgates for a collapse which was initiated by a super spell of fast bowling by Dushmantha Chameera. He varied his pace to perfection and reaped rewards in his second spell bagging 4 wickets for just 17 runs. From a position of utter dominance, England could only muster 180 in their allotted 20 overs in a belter of a wicket. The run-chase was a sorry tale as far as the visitors were concerned. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could never really challenge the English score. David Willey and Chris Woakes broke their backbone bagging the two openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Perera respectively. Oshada Fernando struggled his way to 19 of 27 deliveries while Niroshan Dickwella and Binura Fernando were the two others who reached double figures. It was an embarrassing scorecard for the Lankans as they surrendered meekly. None of the English bowlers were too threatening but it was some ordinary batting from the visitors which led to their downfall. Willey ended as the pick of the bowlers with three while Sam Curran bagged a couple as the Lankans were skittled out for 91 in the 19th over handing the hosts a commanding 89 runs victory.