An “upset” Sri Lanka Cricket on Tuesday apologised to Indian opener Virender Sehwag for the deliberate no-ball bowled by off-spinner Suraj Randiv which left him stranded on 99 in their tri-series match here and promised action on the matter after getting a probe report.
SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga called up the Indian team manager Ranjib Biswal and apologised for Monday’s incident.
Sehwag was just one short of his 13th ODI hundred when Randiv, who had not bowled a no ball in the Test or ODI series this season, bowled one which was hit by the opener for a six.
However, it did not count because the no ball amounted to India’s winning run leaving Sehwag on an unbeaten 99.
Randiv’s antics were criticised by Sehwag in the post match press conference and to put an end to the furore, Ranatunga gave Biswal a call to apologise.
“In the morning, Ranatunga called me up personally and apologised on behalf of the Board for the Sehwag incident,” Biswal told PTI.
“He said this was not in the spirit of the game.
Nishantha said ‘We have a good relationship with India and we apologise for yesterday’s incident’,” Biswal revealed. The Indian manager said Ranatunga asked him to convey the apologies to Sehwag. “Since the secretary has called us, we are treating this matter as closed,” Biswal said.
Ranatunga told PTI that the SLC is awaiting the report from the team manager before deciding on further course of action.
“We have asked him to probe the incident. We will take necessary action in this regard once we get the report. We are upset about the incident and we are unhappy as Sri Lankan cricketers have won the ICC spirit of the game award thrice and these things won’t be tolerated,” he said.
India comprehensively won last night’s match by six wickets but the conduct of the Sri Lankan team caused upset in the visitors’ camp.
Minutes after the game, a livid Sehwag told reporters that Sri Lanka had used such tactics earlier also, pointing out that they had left Sachin Tendulkar stranded at 99 with a similar strategy in a match in Cuttack.
Sehwag said that Randiv had not bowled a single no ball earlier and asked “How can he bowl one at this point?”
“It was clear that the Lankan team did not want me to get to my 100,” the opener said.
