Days after legendary Mahela Jayawardene took a dig on Thilanga Sumathipala, the former Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president has called him out for being ‘thankless’ and stated that it was his family’s newspaper Lakbima, that gave him his first major sponsorship during his school days.
In an explosive revelation, Aluthgamage on June 17 had said that 2011 World Cup Final between India and Sri Lanka was fixed. Both Jayawardene and then skipper Kumar Sangakkara termed these statements of Aluthgamage ‘politically oriented.
Commenting on the controversy, Sumathipala had advised former players to not worry over former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage’s allegation on match fixing in 2011 World Cup Final.
“If the players are not involved in match fixing – why they are worried about it? If they are not involved in it, that statement will be followed up with the necessary procedure. It is better to be patient without panicking and tweeting about it. If you have not done any wrong you should not wear the hat” he said.
Replying on Sumathipala comment, Mahela tweeted “I am sorry next time we will check with him before reacting and wearing the hats since he has vast experience on the subject matter 
”.
Now, Sumathipala has provided more fuel to the debate, while accusing Mahela of forgetting the past.
“Mahela has forgotten how he batted with Lakbima sponsorship on his bat as a school boy, when I was at SLC. He has forgotten the past” Sumathipala said in a TV interview.
Sumathipala also claimed that he is the best cricket administrator in Sri Lanka and always stood for players.
“I am the number one cricket administrator in Sri Lanka. When our players – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Perera – were falsely accused, we told them not to panic and eventually we got them cleared” he added.
Eyeing on Sports Minister post after country’s general election, Sumathipala also questioned former Minsister’s priorities.
“Every Sports Minister in Sri Lanka eventually became Cricket Minsiter. If I will be given Sports Minister post after winning the election, I will make sure to correct it” he added further.
