Frustrated from stringent security, Sri Lanka unsure of touring Pakistan again
In spite of a successful T20I series whitewash, SLC Chief Shammi Silva was not entirely happy with the proceedings in Pakistan and says that the board will have to reassess whether Sri Lanka will tour Pakistan again. SL players were asked to stay back at the hotel for 3-4 days which fed them up.
Sri Lankan youngsters put on a stellar performance against a strong Pakistan side in their home conditions to complete a 3-0 whitewash of the home team. Although this was a spectacular result for the Lankan Lions, all was not rosy as the players and management staff were fed up by the stringent security measures. SLC President Shammi Silva expressed his displeasure towards this treatment.
"Players had to stay inside their hotel. I was there and though I stayed for 3-4 days, I got fed up (about it). We have to think about that and discuss with the players and support staff. We are playing the Test Championship and we want to do well in that too," Silva said to Island Cricket.
Silva, although mentioned the plus points of staying put in the hotels as a way to increase team bonding, also believed that the negative points were much greater than the positive ones.
"Frankly in my opinion, it was good team bonding when they are staying in the hotel without their wives. Too much of freedom is also bad for the players. But, they have to go out to do shopping, they have to eat somewhere, all those things are there. They have to go out and see the world. They can't stay inside the hotel," he said.
Silva ensured that there was no bad blood between the boards and that the relations between them have always been healthy and will continue to be so. But he also mentioned that due to the fact that they were not allowed to move due to strict security conditions, the decision of playing test matches in Pakistan is something that they will have to rethink about.
"We have to reassess and see about Test matches. We owed something to Pakistan because they are there for us, because they always helped us. We were willing to bear that up (security hassle), but the problem is how much we could bear?" he said.
"I heard security there is getting better. I don't know because we were not allowed to go out, so may be by next year we might suddenly see Australia or England come and play," he signed off.