SLC chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya says Sri Lanka believe in equality and that it is disappointing that such a situation has risen in sports where his countrymen have been barred from playing in Chennai.

“This time IPL got little bit affected because of these political issues. Sports should not be involved with politics but it is an unfortunate thing. It was a bit disappointing when sports come into these situations.

“We, as Sri Lankans, treat everyone the same. We never had any issues with people from Chennai coming to Sri Lanka. We’ve always treated them like our brothers and sisters,” he said.

Jayasuriya, who is in Mumbai to promote his country as the brand ambassador of Sri Lanka tourism, speaking to Indian media said he was concerned after Angelo Mathews was dropped as skipper of struggling Pune Warriors in the ongoing Indian Premier League.

“It is unfortunate that Angelo was dropped as a captain. I think this was a concern for myself being chairman of selector (of Sri Lanka Cricket). He is the Sri Lankan captain in Tests and one-dayers. It was unfortunate. But Angelo has played enough cricket to realise that these things happen in your life. When you play for a franchise, these things happen,” Jayasuriya was quoted as saying by PTI.

Asked how Mathews would lead the national side, the former opener said, “You can’t go by his Pune Warriors performance. He is a different kind of player. We have a lot of faith in him. He’s a very good player and good captain. You can’t expect him to do well all the time.”

Many star players from Sri Lanka have under-performed in the T20 tournament, but the ‘Matara Marauder’ is confident that the national team would be able to do well in next month’s Champions Trophy in England and Wales.

“Yeah, it’s a bit unfortunate that some of the Sri Lankan top cricketers have not been performing well. That is why I requested Sri Lankan Cricket (to release the non-IPL playing players), and Sri Lankan Cricket requested the Indian Board and franchises.

“But we can only request them. We can’t force (them to release players). They are under contract with their franchises. We are playing a tri-series tournament in Sri Lanka next week and that is why we wanted them to get match practice before they go to England,” he said.

“They have played enough cricket. They are experienced players to comeback and play good cricket. Not all of them (have done well). Kumar (Sangakkara) has come back and started to play good cricket. Sachithra (Senanayake) has been bowling well,” the 43-year-old said.

“You can’t expect all the IPL players to do well. You can have 8-9 players out of form. It doesn’t matter. As long as they work hard, they need just one innings to make a comeback. We have faith in them,” Jayasuriya added.

- Agencies