Sri Lanka pair in hot water

Sri Lanka stars Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are facing disciplinary action for their public criticism of cricket board officials in a dispute over their retirement from Twenty20 internationals.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene, on their return home from the World Twenty20 triumph in Bangladesh this month, hit out at board officials who criticised them for announcing their retirement from the shortest format of the game to the media before discussing it with officials.

Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement that they decided to refer the ‘unsubstantiated statements’ of the players to the disciplinary committee ‘for their views and recommendations’.

At a news conference arranged at the airport to welcome the team, the two stalwarts said they were only responding to media queries when they said the tournament was their last World Twenty20 and they never mentioned retirement.

However, they said Sri Lanka Cricket secretary Nishantha Ranatunga and chief executive Ashley de Silva criticised them in the media without ascertaining if they really made such a statement.

The two players played crucial hands in the final against India, and Sangakkara’s match-winning half century won him the player of the match award.

Both players subsequently handed letters of resignation from T20 internationals to the cricket board.