The International Cricket Council (ICC) has suspended Sri Lanka T20I captain Wanindu Hasaranga for two matches for his outburst against on-field umpire Lyndon Hannibal during the third T20I against Afghanistan in Dambulla on February 21. Hasaranga is also fined 50% of his match fees and will miss the first two T20I games against Bangladesh next month.
The incident happened when Hannibal did not give an above-the-waist-height full toss a no-ball, irking the Sri Lankan camp, with Hasaranga letting his frustration out during the presser, saying such calls should have been avoided in international cricket.
Hasaranga went one step ahead by bashing the umpire for not being rightly suited for top-level cricket, urging him to find another job.
“That kind of thing shouldn’t happen in an international match,” Hasaranga said. “If it had been close [to waist height], that’s not a problem. But a ball that’s going so high… it would have hit the batsman’s head if it had gone a little higher. If you can’t see that, that umpire isn’t suited to international cricket. It would be much better if he did another job.”