Lasith Malinga gets suspended ban, fined for media remarks

Colombo : Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Tuesday after inquiry has suspended Lasith Malinga for one year after the pacer pleaded. guilty to a breach of contract for speaking to the media without prior permission. The disciplinary inquiry found. Malinga guilty of the breach and will also be fined 50 per cent of the match fee from his next one-day international. Malinga appeared before the specially formed executive committee and tendered a formal apology. Then the committee imposed “one-year suspension, suspended by six months (whereby the punishment would be imposed in the event of a similar infraction within the stipulated six month period) and a 50 percent fine of his next ODI match fee,” SLC said in a release. The inquiry was started after Malinga made remarks against the country’s sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. On two occasions, the seamer acted in “contravention of the terms of agreement”, which bars him from making any public remarks without prior permission. The minister had criticised the team’s performance at the Champions Trophy, saying it was due to the poor fitness of some players with ‘big bellies’. Then Malinga publicly ridiculed the minister’s knowledge of cricket and said it is normal to miss catches in any game and he is no more than a armchair critic.