Dinesh Chandimal (right) and Angelo Mathews – two senior cricketers whose international careers are on the line following the contract dispute 

• Former Captain seeks clarification of his cricket future

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Former Sri Lanka Cricket Captain Dinesh Chandimal has written to the Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee for Cricket – Aravinda de Silva – seeking clarification of his cricket future.

Chandimal was one of the senior players who was involved in the recent dispute over the signing of a new performance-based central contract put out by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in collaboration with the Technical Advisory Committee for Cricket, that ended up with the players losing out on the central contract and being asked to sign a tour-by-tour contract for the rest of the year.

Chandimal, in fact, was not even considered to be good enough to be included in the 30-member squad picked for the upcoming ODI and T20I series against India and thereby not offered a tour contract. After the white-ball series against West Indies in March where he played in both ODI and T20Is, he was ignored by the selection committee for the ODI series in Bangladesh and the white-ball series in England, thus giving the impression that he was no longer in the selectors book for white-ball cricket. He was also the victim of a significant pay cut from the new contract offered to him.

Chandimal becomes the second senior cricketer to show concern about his future with Sri Lanka Cricket. Last week, another past Captain – Angelo Mathews – informed SLC not to consider him for further selection as he was contemplating retirement.

In the letter of which copies have been sent to SLC President, Secretary, CEO and the Chairman of selectors, Chandimal has stated that he has been grossly vindicated of selection to represent the country in both white-ball and Test cricket.

“Going beyond my player statistics, my compliance towards health and fitness and my ethical standards towards SLC have been of the highest calibre. I have always demonstrated outstanding team player skills. In my career, every decision I have made was always by putting my country and team first, sometimes with dire consequences for me personally. The ad-hoc nature of my selection over the last couple of years has caused me much stress and has subsequently affected my cricket,” Chandimal goes onto state.

“As a past cricketer, you would understand that selection consistency and the selector’s trust in players is a must to perform on the field. I must point out here that I have batted in every position that I have been requested to play without any hesitation. I was categorically told at the time (three-four years ago), I was groomed as a future flag bearer of Sri Lanka Cricket along with a couple of other players and hence the reason for this ad-hoc treatment towards me,” Chandimal said.

Producing the career statistics of former Sri Lankan batsmen, Chandimal (31) says that past greats of Sri Lanka Cricket have shown that the second half of their careers is where they have contributed with greater performances and questioned why those very people (some of whom are today serving in the Technical Advisory Committee for Cricket) are unable to see the value of it in him as this stage. “The statistics given of past cricketers indicate how with consistency and maturity, vast improvements in performance follows. Hence my question to you, your committees and SLC is why have I been dropped now in the middle of my career as opposed to the twilight? What is my future for the limited overs and test career? When will I receive the consistency in the batting position that I was promised 4-5 years ago once the seniors retired?” queries Chandimal.

Chandimal has sought a meeting with the Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee for Cricket Aravinda de Silva and the Selection Committee headed by Pramodya Wickramasinghe to discuss his future with Sri Lanka Cricket.

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