Sri Lankan cricket has not had good times recently while their team is going through the transition phase. Since the retirement of ace players like Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardne, Tillakaratne Dilshan to name a few, Sri Lankan team has struggle to find the right balance in the team.
They didn't had the best of tournament in the recently concluded Champions trophy. They lost their matches to Pakistan and South Africa and couldn't make it to semifinals.
Now, as they are lined up for the bilateral series against Zimbabwe, their team has landed into another trouble. Team has been selected for the series but the players will have to go through a fitness test to make to the final team. Whoever fails to pass the fitness standards will be shown doors out of the team. It all started when Sports minister of Srilanka Jayasekera recently commented on the poor fitness standards after the team's poor display in the Champions trophy. He was found quoting that Srilankan team did not performed well because of the poor fitness levels of the players. He said that Srilankan players have extra fats on their body. Before the selection for the series against Zimbabwe all the players had to go through a fitness test which most of them failed to pass. Further, all the players were warned to control their fats and get fit before the final selection or get ready to leave the team. Interestingly, when the same Srilankan team won the Cricket world cup in 1996 they had players who were not the fittest of all. But 21 years later things have changed with players around world giving proper attention to their fitness levels. That is the reason that srilankan players have been warned to raise the fitness standards.
Meanwhile, Lasith Malinga was not very pleased with sports minister's statement and openly showed his displeasure against the minister making absurd statement. He soon faced the consequences and was penalized with 50% of his next ODI fee and also a ban of one year was imposed upon him. Later he apologized for his statement which resulted in reduction of his ban to 6 months.
-Navdeep Sharma
Cricket is deemed as religion in India. Everything related to it certainly becomes a national issue. As Indian cricket team is looking for it's new coach after Anil Kumble, apparently due to his spat with the current captain of the team Virat Kohli, resigned from the esteemed post just few days before his contract as coach was about to end, applicants have started applying for the job from around the world. Ravi Shastri, former Indian player and Former director, Indian cricket team notably the front runner to get selected for the post ended any speculation whatsoever about whether he will apply for the post or not and handed over his CV to the concerned authorities on 3rd of July. Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Phil Simmons are the few other probables to get selected for this esteemed post. Advisory committee comprising former players Souray Gangly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman will take the interviews of the candidates on 10th July, one day after the deadline of
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