Sri Lanka Cricket Board suspended Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, and Danushka Gunathilaka after they breached coronavirus rules and the biosecure bubble in UK.
Sri Lanka Players Suspended
The trio were part of the squad which were to take on England in the ODI series and had been asked to fly back home after video surfaced of them being outside the team hotel.
Sri Lanka Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa has expressed his disappointment in three national cricketers failing to abide by the COVID-19 protocols.
Three Sri Lankan players in Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella, and Danushka Gunathilaka were spotted roaming outside in a public space in Durham, breaching the bio-secure protocols.
Familiar faces in Durham tonight, enjoying their tour! Obviously not here to play cricket, this video was taken at 23.28 Sunday. Disappointing performance by these cricket players but not forgetting to enjoy their night at Durham. RIP #SrilankaCricket #KusalMendis #ENGvSL pic.twitter.com/eR15CWHMQx
— Nazeer Nisthar (@NazeerNisthar) June 28, 2021
Not only the trio faced suspension from the upcoming ODI series against England, but they could also be subject to a lengthy ban from international cricket.
They were immediately sent on a 14-day quarantine. On completion of the quarantine regulations, they will then have to face an inquiry into the incident that took place in Durham on Sunday, which has also ruled them out of the three T20Is and three ODIs against India at home.
“They are likely to get a minimum one-year suspension if found guilty of several breaches of their contract,” one official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
India series to start from July 13
The Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan has already landed in Sri Lanka. The young side will be coached by Rahul Dravid for the very first time and they will take on the hosts in a 3 match ODI and T20I series.
The Sri Lankan side is currently in England where they have been hammered in all the three T20Is and then went down comprehensively in the 1st ODI as well.
Sri Lanka vs India ODI Schedule
| S.No. | Date | Match | Venue |
| 1 | 13th July | 1st ODI | Colombo |
| 2 | 16th July | 2nd ODI | Colombo |
| 3 | 18th July | 3rd ODI | Colombo |
Sri Lanka vs India T20I Series
| S.No. | Date | Match | Venue |
| 1 | 21st July | 1st T20I | Colombo |
| 2 | 23rd July | 2nd T20I | Colombo |
| 3 | 25th July | 3rd T20I | Colombo |
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
Net Bowlers
Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh
