Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan has reprimanded four senior national team players for a dispute over central contracts.
Several players, including senior players such as former captain Angelo Mathews and Kusal Perera, have been involved in a long-standing dispute with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) over central contracts.
Several Sri Lankan cricketers had refused to sign contracts with the board due to a pay dispute after agreeing to play on tour contracts against England.
Sri Lankan players are said to have not signed the contracts over transparency issues, but Muralitharan said this was mainly because senior cricketers got lower wages under the new performance-based system.
“This year we think they don’t need a central contract, we can go with tour contracts,” Murali told Hiru TV.
The cricketers have signed tour contracts ahead of the India series starting on July 18.
The 49-year-old Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with 800 wickets, said senior cricketers did not allow other young players to sign contracts because of their pay cuts.
Now that the players did not take the offer from the board, Muralitharan said he would not get the central contract.
Several senior players who are not part of the white-ball set-up are now without a deal after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) withdrew the offer of annual contracts.
Some players later agreed to sign central contracts after transparency details emerged, but SLC only offered them tour contracts.
Thanks to the new move by the SLC, cricketers will no longer be paid on a monthly basis, leaving the Test players the worst hit as they have no tour scheduled till November.
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