Angered by his continues illogical selections, thousands of Sri Lanka cricket fans have lent their support to an online petition on the social media for the removal of the incompetent and biased chairman of the selector of the national team Ashantha De Mel.
“Sri Lanka cricket is struggling due to player mismanagement and poor selection policy. Mr. Ashantha De Mel has made questionable decisions both as the head of the selectors and team manager, which has directly impacted the team and its performance” the petition, addressed to Sri Lanka Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, reads.
More than 7,000 cricket fans have already signed the petition in order to get rid of Ashantha, undoubtedly the worst chairman of the selector in Sri Lanka cricket history.
His persistent with non performers like Lahiru Thirimanne (who today made a century after 8 years on a road-like, flat Galle pitch) and Niroshan Dickwela and ignorance towards consistent domestic performers like Roshan Silva, Pathum Nissanka have been heavily criticized by cricket fans and experts alike.
To make things worse, he has always been notorious for continuously bringing influential players in the team (latest example is Ramesh Mendis).
“The biggest problem with Ashantha is that he is outdated. In this era of Google Meet, he simply doesn’t fit in a 21st century professional team” a former Sri Lanka player, who was a part of Ashantha’s selection committee in past, told Cricket Age.
Ironically, Ashantha is carrying the responsibility of the team manager as well. It provides an opportunity to non performing players to neutralize Ashantha’s impact as chief selector.
“He is not suitable as a team manager even. He is very arrogant and lazy. The majority of team management has also fed up with his presence” a team insider told Cricket Age.
“Ashantha’s has no vision for National cricket team. He carries no plan and doesn’t know how to move forward. He completely depends on other selectors for picking the squads, as he doesn’t know anything about domestic players. Having him as the manager also does not serve well for selection” another former selector told Cricket Age.
