EXPLAINED: The Reason Behind ICC Suspending Sri Lanka Cricket Amid The Ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023

Did current boss of Sri Lanka Cricket Shammi Silva himself asked ICC to suspend the national cicket board? What is the reason for ICC's shocking reaction? Check here

Sri Lankan cricket team. (Source: ANI)

Sri Lankan cricket is going through a big crisis. The men's cricket team has underperformed in the Cricket World Cup 2023 for which they had to qualify by playing in the qualifiers. Not to forget, they had been crushed by India earlier in Asia Cup 2023 final. However, they were still expected to do well in Indian conditions at the ODI World Cup. But the Lankans never showed any fire throughout the tournament. The fact that they had many injury issues did not help them either.

As their World Cup campaign came to a sorry end with just 2 wins from 9 matches, more bad news came their way. This bad news even affects their women's cricket side. The International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended the Sri Lanka Cricket board. In a press release, ICC said that they were taking this extreme step after seeing government interference in running of cricket affairs in Sri Lanka.

"The ICC Board met today and determined that Sri Lanka Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka," read the ICC release.

Suspension Notice: The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket's membership of the ICC with immediate effect.

READ _https://t.co/rvcmdOY3HR #SLC #LKA — Sri Lanka Cricket __ (@OfficialSLC) November 10, 2023

Even before Sri Lanka's last league match vs England, the sports minister of Sri Lanka Roshan Ranasinghe sacked the whole national cricket board after the poor show of the men's team. However, the top court in Sri Lanka ordered a 14-day stay on the sacking, which means Shammi Silva continues to chair the Sri Lanka Cricket.

A report in ESPNcricinfo states that it was the SLC president Shammi himself who askd ICC to suspend the board. The ICC board had met online on Friday (November 10) to discuss interfernece of government in matters of Sri Lankan cricket. Shammi is in India for the World Cup. The ICC continues to recognise him as the president. The report also stated that Shammi is likely to attend the ICC meeting in Ahmedabad after the World Cup ends.

Sri Lankan cricket is in a mess at the moment with political infights affecting the day-to-day working of the national cricket board. It has resulted in their team's poor show on the field. As a result of the poor World Cup 2023, some big calls will need to be taken from team's perspective, including the new captain and the future of current head coach Chris Silverwood. But before that, the Sri Lankan cricket board itself needs a reboot.

Not to forget, Sri Lanka also faces a threat of losing the spot in the Champions Trophy 2025 roster. The top 8 teams after the league stage on the World Cup 2023 points table, including hosts Pakistan, will qualify for CT 2025. Sri Lanka are currently placed at ninth position. Right now, they are almost out of Champions Trophy but their chances can improve if seventh-placed England and eighth-placed Bangladesh lose their respective matches on Saturday by big margin. The better Net Run Rate (NRR) will take Sri Lanka to number 8.

Sri Lanka Cricket are the second Full Member of ICC to face suspension in the alst 4 years. Zimbabwe had been suspended earlier in 2019 for the same reason. However, unlike Zimbabwe, ICC is going slow on Sri Lanka and have not announced the conditions of the suspension yet, leaving that to be revealed in immediate future. Sri Lanka do not have any cricket match till December and they were not to receive any funds from ICC as well this year. Sri Lanka, however, hosts the ICC Men's U19 Cricket World Cup next year in January and February.