Disgruntled Sri Lankan cricket fans have started a campaign on social media to stay away from their team after a crushing defeat in the Twenty20 series in England. England registered a stunning 89-run victory in Southampton on Saturday to register a 3-0 win – their fifth consecutive series loss to Sri Lanka in the shortest format.
The hashtag #unfollowcricketers started trending on Facebook on Sunday, with thousands of fans boycotting the Facebook pages of vice-captain Kusal Mendis and opener Dhanushka Gunathilaka, the Newscenter.lk website said.
“The campaign aims to unfollow unsuccessful Sri Lankan cricketers from their verified profiles on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,” the popular website said.
Fans were also sharing memes and appealing to each other not to watch the national team on television.
Ahmed Inamulhaq said on Twitter, “Unfollow all these failed cricketers. If they can’t perform for the national team don’t pay attention to them on social media. They don’t deserve a huge fan base.”
There was no immediate reaction from any of the senior players, but some observers posted that the latest performance in England was the team’s worst performance in three decades.
Sports reporter Manjula Basanayake said on Twitter, “I have been watching cricket matches since 1993 but I have never seen such a weak Sri Lankan cricket team. They can’t hit the ball. #SLvENG.”
England’s 180 proved to be ahead of Sri Lanka, who were all out for 91 as left-arm pacer David Willey scored 3-27.
England and Sri Lanka will meet again in the first of three One Day Internationals at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, with Sri Lanka’s batting set to face another tough test against the 50-over World Champions.
Sri Lankan captain Kusal Perera said, “We knew it would be a tough series but our batting was not good.
“That was our main issue. We couldn’t get used to the pace and bounce of the pitches and the conditions.”
Sri Lanka have played 10 Twenty20 series since October 2018 and have won only one. They have lost two each to England, New Zealand and West Indies and one each to Australia, India and South Africa.
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