Sri Lanka President sacks Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe amid SLC suspension 

Roshan Ranasinghe has attempted to sack the SLC board after he claimed they were incompetent and corrupt, which led to Sri Lanka Cricket being suspended by the ICC.

Sri Lanka President sacks Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe amid SLC suspension 

Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the SLC Board, only for the board to be reinstated by the Court of Appeals (Image via Kuwait Times)

Roshan Ranasinghe, the Sports Minister of Sri Lanka, was sacked by the Sri Lankan President on 27th November due his interference with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current Sri Lankan President and former Sports Minister, made this decision 2 weeks after the SLC was suspended by the ICC. 

Ranasinghe has also lost his post of Minister of Youth Affairs and Minister of Irrigation along with Sports. Although fans might think this is due to his role in SLC’s suspension, he had also made accusations on Wickremesinghe on Monday. Harin Fernando has been appointed as the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, while Pavithra Wanniarachchi was appointed as Minister of Irrigation. 

SLC was suspended by the ICC after Ranasinghe sacked the SLC board and replaced them with an interim committee, led by World Cup winning Captain Arjuna Ranatunga. As the BCCI does not allow government interference with any boards, this move was made. Although the team is allowed to play international cricket, their funding from the ICC has now been blocked and will be until the government interference is gone. The 2024 ICC u19 World Cup was also moved from Sri Lanka to South Africa. 

Related: Sri Lankan government expresses REGRET over Arjuna Ranatunga’s remark of Jay Shah “ruining” Sri Lanka Cricket

SLC relieved by Roshan Ranasinghe’s sacking, expect no more interference by Government 

The SLC has been at war with Ranasinghe for a long time and will be the happiest that he has been sacked. The former Sports Minister had claimed the SLC board were incompetent and corrupt, which led to them sacking him, but the Courts didn’t allow him to replace them with the interim committee. 

Harin Fernando
Harin Fernando was appointed as the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs. (Image via X)

The SLC now believes there won’t be any more interference by the Government now that Ranasinghe is sacked. It has been reported by many outlets that the SLC had requested the ICC to suspend them so that the Government could stop their interference. Now the SLC looks just a few steps away from their suspension finishing and then returning to their role as a full member. 

The Sri Lankan Cricket team have not had a good time in the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup. The team finished 9th, with only two wins in 9 matches. They also failed to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy. As of now the Men’s team has had no matches scheduled, but they will be traveling to England to play a 3-match Test series.

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