In June 2021, a video went viral that showed Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella out in public. Danushka Gunathilaka was not in the frame but was later confirmed to have been there. This was serious because Sri Lankan players were warned not to breach the Covid-19 bio security bubble that was in place during the England series that year. They violated that rule. They were immediately recalled and handed out a one-year ban from all forms of cricket. The ban came off six months later. And today, Mendis has become the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s batting while the other two perished with the passage of time. His comeback has been impressive–he is among the two top run-scorers for Sri Lanka across all formats.
Neil Weerasekara
