In 2017, Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) CEO Ashley De Silva forcefully instructed to retain Tharanga Indika, the main culprit of Ongoing Pitch-Fixing Controversy, as the assistant manager of Galle International Cricket Stadium, even after the Secretary of Southern Province Cricket Association and Staudim Was against him, Cricket Age reliably learns.
On 19th February 2017, Ashley De Silva wrote a letter to Southern Province Cricket Association Secretary Premasiri Halmbage and instructed him to retain Tharanga Indika as the assistant manager (Stadium). In the letter, Ashley Stated that SLC wants to prepare for the second test between Sri Lanka and Australia, thus the board has decided to retain him along with others.
In the response, Premasiri Halmbage completely refused to accept the instructions and replied Ashley that he would be unable to retain Indika and others, as he had been doing good work with his existing trustworthy staff. However, eventually, SLC retained Indika.
Interestingly, Godfrey Dabrera, SLC’s international venues and facility manager, also instructed Premasiri to retain Tharanga Indika.
More importantly, the exchange of letters proves that Ashley instructed for Indika retention on the behalf of the SLC.
In this scenario, Now, as Indika has been accused of pitch-fixing, SLC must clarify that who ordered to retain him, even after the objection from Ground’s secretary.
A documentary by news organisation Al Jazeera has allegedly uncovered a match-fixing scandal involving the curator of the Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka, where Australia were thrashed inside three days in 2016.
The documentary, which aired on Sunday morning, shows Tharanga Indika claiming to be able to prepare a pitch to suit a desired outcome.
Al Jazeera’s investigation reveals the pitch for the Sri Lanka-India Test at Galle in 2017 was doctored to favour batsmen, while the match-fixers allegedly exposed in the documentary – Robin Morris and Tharindu Mendis – also claim the next match to be targeted is England’s Test at the same venue in November.
