When Roshan Ranasinghe, the sports minister under Ranil’s government, removed the Cricket Board and its Chairman Shammi Silva, Shammi Silva and the Cricket Board challenged the decision in court. Subsequently, both the ruling party and the opposition joined forces to pass a motion in Parliament removing Shammi Silva and the Cricket Board. Around the same time, the International Cricket Council (ICC) banned the interim committee appointed by Minister Ranasinghe — which had replaced Shammi Silva and the Board — while recognising the ousted board’s legitimacy.
In response to this ban on the interim committee, Arjuna Ranatunga — the cricketer who brought Sri Lanka the World Cup — publicly alleged that ICC Chairman Jay Shah, son of Amit Shah, a powerful minister in India, had protected Shammi Silva to preserve his own influence over Sri Lankan cricket. Ranatunga claimed that Jay Shah was effectively running Sri Lankan cricket through Shammi.
Condemning these remarks, then-President Ranil personally called Jay Shah to express his regret, while Sports Minister Harin framed Ranatunga’s allegations against Jay Shah as an affront to India that risked damaging Sri Lanka-India relations once again. In short, both Ranil and Harin were signalling that Shammi had India’s blessing. When Harin subsequently dissolved the interim committee and reinstated Shammi and the Cricket Board, the ICC lifted the ban it had imposed on Sri Lanka.
Although both the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the ruling party had supported the motion to remove Shammi and the Board, Ranil succeeded in invoking the specter of Indian pressure to prevent the ruling party from following through on its opposition to Shammi. Notably, the JVP remained conspicuously silent throughout this controversy — they did not even cast their votes in Parliament on the motion to remove Shammi. Yet one of the key expectations of the voters who propelled the JVP-NPP to victory in 2024 was precisely to see Shammi and the Cricket Board removed.
For a year and a half after Anura came to power, there was not even a discussion about removing Shammi. However, as the government’s popularity began to wane, Anura found himself needing to remove Shammi and satisfy the voters who had brought him to power in 2024. Reports in recent days indicate that he summoned Shammi and asked him to step down. Sources within the government say this is indeed true, and that India’s approval for Shammi’s removal has already been secured.
If that is the case, why was Ranil unable to secure that same approval? Does this suggest that the bond between Anura and India is, in fact, stronger than the one Ranil ever had?
