Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis has apologised for his recent comment during the Cricket World Cup 2023. During a press conference, the player was asked by a journalist if he would like to congratulate India batter Virat Kohli for scoring a record-equalling 49th ODI century. To this, Mendis replied, "Why I would congratulate him?" with a smile. The reaction of the Sri Lanka player didn't go down well and he was subjected to criticism for it. However, now, Mendis has cleared the air on his reaction. "On that day I went for the press conference and I was not aware that Virat had scored a century, when suddenly that journalist asked that question, I didn't know what to say, And also I didn't understand the question clearly, scoring 49 ODI tons is not an easy job to do, Virat is one of the brilliant cricketers in the world, later I realized what i said was absolutely wrong," said Mendis as quoted by Asian Mirror.
"I now feel I shouldn't have reacted the way I did," he apologised. Sri Lanka endured a poor World Cup winning two and losing 7 games in the marquee event. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has been in turmoil ever since the Mendis-led team exited the World Cup. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had on Friday suspended Sri Lanka, a full-member, after observing government interference in the national board. Kusal Mendis hoped the ICC's suspension of the nation's cricket body will not affect the upcoming fixtures of the national team and the preparations for the men's U19 World Cup here early next year. "We hope the suspension will end soon, enabling us to practice for our schedule ahead. It will be good for the hosting of the Under-19 World Cup too," Mendis told the media on arrival from India. The Sri Lankan parliament had unanimously passed a resolution, calling for the sacking of the country's cricket governing body, with both the ruling and opposition parties supporting it. The resolution passed by Sri Lankan parliament amounted to government interference and that was enough ground for the ICC Board to suspend Sri Lanka's membership. Following the team's dismal performance, sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe had on November 6 sacked the current SLC management and appointed an interim committee headed by former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga. The court of appeal reinstated the SLC management through an interim order the next day. The legendary Mahela Jayawardene, who is the high-performance coach, said the players weren't able to execute the plans discussed while trying specific roles given to each of them during the World Cup."We have seen a lot of deficiencies and now want to correct them and move forward," Jayawardene, who figured in two World Cup runner-up teams in 2007 and 2011 said.
