Sacked Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurusingha has demanded five million dollars in compensation from Sri Lanka Cricket over the premature end of his contract, reports revealed on Sunday.
The former Sri Lankan Test star turned coach asked for the above after he and the Sri Lankan cricket board were at different wavelength regarding the termination of his contact.
“He has sent a letter of demand asking for $5 million,” board secretary Mohan de Silva told AFP.
Although the complete details are yet to be known, Sri Lanka’s Sunday Island newspaper said Hathurusingha had sought his full salary for the remaining 18 months of his contract which amounted to just over a million dollars.
He has also said that due to the premature end of his contract, his reputation as an international coach suffered.
“I have another 16 months,” Hathurusingha said. “I hope to remain until my contract runs out,” he had said after his contract was terminated following the debacle at the ODI World Cup, and he had also said that the whole team needed to take responsibility for the poor performances in England and not just him.
“All of us must accept responsibility for what happened. I think we expected better performance… We have to think. We must learn from this and move forward. I think I have tried to the best of my ability.
Initially, it was Sri Lanka’s sports minister who had asked for the sacking of the coach and the support staff.
Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Mohan de Silva had said that the sports minister Harin Fernando had made the request in writing, to remove the then active support staff.
“But we know this is a complex problem because we are dealing with professionals,” de Silva said. “We know Sri Lanka has a bad reputation that we have hired and fired coaches over the past so many years. We know our responsibilities and we also can’t go against the minister’s recommendations.”
