Sri Lankan Minister of Sports Bright Rana Sanghe took a bold step by dismissing the country’s cricket board Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Monday, After a humiliating defeat at India in the ICC World Cup 2023.
The decision comes after months of corruption against the country’s richest sports organization.
In a statement issued by Rana Sanghe’s office، He announced that the country’s 1996 World Cup-winning captain, Arjun Rana Tanga, would be the newly appointed chairman of the new interim board.
“The Minister of Sports Bright Rana Sanghe has formed an interim committee for Sri Lanka cricket,” the statement said.
The Board’s main focus is to investigate the issue of the poor performance of the Sri Lankan team in the World Cup.
The Board of Directors of Sri Lanka has appointed a new seven-member panel after the resignation of Secretary Mohan de Silva، Including retired Supreme Court judges and former president of the board.
The move is being seen as an attempt to restore the image of Sri Lankan cricket, which has been affected by allegations of corruption and poor performance.
Rana Sanghe publicly demanded the resignations of the entire board after a 302-run defeat to host India in the World Cup.
The defeat saw Sri Lanka all-out at 14-6 and 55 on one occasion، Which sparked public protests and police deployments outside the board office in Colombo after Saturday’s protests.
Rana Sanghe said the SLC authorities had no moral or moral right to remain in office and “they should resign voluntarily”. He had previously accused the board of being “traitor and corrupt”.
Sri Lanka will later play with Bangladesh on Monday and if it is to be squeezed into the last four of the World Cup, it needs a miracle of mathematics.
The AFP reported that Rana Sanghe wrote a letter to the full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) — on Saturday, in which political intervention in the game — There are laws that say for understanding and support.
“Sri Lanka Cricket has disciplinary issues for players, administrative corruption,,” Rana Sanghe said in letters to the Sri Lanka media، Complaints of allegations of financial mismanagement and match fixing are encountered.
The minister was forced to withdraw the three-member panel appointed last month to investigate alleged corruption on the board after the ICC considered political intervention.
Rana Sanghe’s latest move did not immediately respond to the ICC، He fired the board elected in May for a third consecutive term with President Shimi Silva.
Sri Lanka has not won the World Cup since 1996, Rana Sanghe has blamed the board for the “subsidies” of standards.
Another cabinet minister, the brother Prasna Ranatanga —, chairman of the newly appointed interim board, told parliament in August that the 1996 victory “The biggest curse for our cricket was”.
“After 1996, money began to enter the cricket board and at the same time came people who wanted to steal,” he said.
Harin Fernando, a former sports minister, introduced strict anti-corruption laws in 2019, saying that ICC Sri Lanka was one of the world’s most corrupt cricket countries Understands۔