Colombo: Lasith Malinga, Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews are among the ten Sri Lanka players who have decided to pull out of team's tour of Pakistan where they play 3 ODIs and T20Is beginning from September 27 to October 9.
"Sri Lanka Cricket on Monday held a meeting with players, who were chosen as part of a preliminary squad to select the team, which will be touring Pakistan to play 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is, starting from September 27 to October 9," Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.
"Former Sri Lanka Air Force Commander, Marshal Air Roshan Goonetileke, who is the Chief Security Advisor of the SLC, briefed the players about the security situation in Pakistan and the security arrangements PCB plans on implementing during Sri Lanka team's tour of that country, whilst Chairman of the National Selection Panel Mr. Asantha De Mel, explained about the selection policy for future tours.
"He said, players will be given the freedom to decide on either taking part or not in the forthcoming Pakistan tour. Accordingly, the following players chose to stay away from the upcoming Pakistan series - Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Janith Perera, Dhananjaya De Silva, Thisara Perera, Akila Dhananjaya, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Suranga Lakmal, Dinesh Chandimal, Dimuth Karunaratne."
The statement also mentioned that Kusal Mendis is not available for selection due to an injury sustained during the recently concluded New Zealand series."Following the meeting with the players, the National Selectors, selected a T20i and ODI squad to tour Pakistan, and the respective squads will be sent to the approval of the Minister of Telecommunication, Foreign Employment and Sports Honorable Harin Fernando in due course."(UNI)