Amid Sri Lanka’s Crisis, Cricket Carries On

“What was noticeable was that, even when Sri Lanka was losing, people were partying in the stands” in a way they usually do not, said Ms. Vasudevan, a reporter for the sports news site ThePapare.com.

Many Sri Lankans also saw professional cricketers as aligned with their efforts to oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his powerful family from politics. (Mr. Rajapaksa resigned last week, a day after fleeing the country. On Wednesday, lawmakers chose one of his allies, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to replace him.)

Former high-profile cricketers, including the Hall-of-Famer Kumar Sangakkara, have rallied support for the movement on social media in recent months. Both of the current men’s team’s captains have attended protests, and one dedicated the victory over Bangladesh to those back home.

“We are having a tough time there,” the captain, Dimuth Karunarathna, wrote on Twitter in May, referring to power cuts and other disruptions. “This win brings some joy to their faces.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/world/asia/sri-lanka-cricket-t20.html