Sri Lanka suspends 3 cricketers for bio-bubble breach in England

SRI LANKA Cricket (SLC) on Monday (28) suspended three players, including batsman Kusal Mendis and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella, for breaching the bio-bubble during their ongoing tour of England and ordered their immediate return to the country.

The two, along with opener Danushka Gunathilaka, were seen roaming the streets of Durham after the final T20 international on Saturday (26) night, which Sri Lanka lost by a massive 89 runs. All three players were a part of the playing XI in the game.

"Sri Lanka Cricket executive committee has suspended Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka & Niroshan Dickwella for breaching the bio-bubble and they will be immediately recalled to Sri Lanka," SLC secretary Mohan De Silva said in a statement in Colombo.

Reacting to the video, which was posted by a Sri Lankan fan, SLC chief Shammi Silva said, "an investigation is underway as they have breached the (code of) conduct."

Sri Lanka went down 0-3 in the T20 series. This was the island nation's fifth straight series loss in T20 internationals since October 2020.

The defeat led to former greats such as Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Thilakaratne and Tillekaratne Dilshan expressing dismay at the poor performance.

Disgruntled fans launched a campaign to shun the team on social media. The hashtag #unfollowcricketers began to trend on Facebook on Sunday (27) as thousands of fans boycotted the social media pages of Mendis and Gunathilaka, reports said.

Fans were also sharing memes asking each other not to watch the national team on television.

Sri Lanka will play the first of three ODIs against England at Chester le Street on Tuesday (29).