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Following the appointment of Mr. Eran Wickramaratne as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee, several false and misleading posts circulated on social media. Presented below is a fact-check of selected claims.
Claim 1
Social Media Posts:
After being appointed as the new president of Sri Lanka Cricket, Mr. Eran Wickramaratne has changed the constitution of Sri Lanka Cricket and introduced a nationality and religious quota for selecting players, similar to South Africa. Accordingly, a post was shared on social media stating that the Sri Lankan cricket team’s player composition has been created as 3 Sinhala Buddhist players, 3 Sinhala Catholic players, 2 Sri Lankan Tamil players, 1 Muslim player, 1 Hill Tamil player and 1 Burgher player.
This post was further shared on social media as follows.
Facebook Post 1 | Facebook Post 2
Fact Check:
On 29 April 2026, former Member of Parliament Eran Wickramaratne was appointed Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee by Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage. This followed the resignation of the executive committee, including then Chairman Shammi Silva. The committee’s mandate is to comprehensively reform the governance structure of Sri Lanka Cricket and implement a new constitution. It comprises nine members, including distinguished former cricketers Kumar Sangakkara, Roshan Mahanama, and Sidath Wettamuny. Under the leadership of Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, the committee has commenced preliminary work on drafting a new constitution aimed at strengthening governance and addressing corruption. Details on the committee’s formation and priorities are available in the referenced sources here, here, and here.
In a context where public attention is firmly focused on this appointment, any move by the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee, under the leadership of Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, to introduce quotas based on nationality or religion would have warranted prominent coverage across mainstream media. We checked whether any such news had been reported in the mainstream media; however, no such reports were observed.
Attention was also given to the perspectives of the newly appointed Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee, led by Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, on the future direction of Sri Lankan cricket and the reforms they intend to implement.
Official statement made by Mr. Eran Wickramaratne on his appointment as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee:
Mr. Eran Wickramaratne has officially stated that his primary objective is to establish a merit-based system within the cricket organization. He has not mentioned any segregation of players based on race or religion.
A fake post created in the form of a TOP NEWS Facebook page
The relevant social media post was circulated using the logo and presentation style of a Facebook page identified as TOP NEWS. However, upon reviewing the official news page, no such post could be found. A clarification published on the Facebook page further confirmed that the post, while designed to resemble content from the TOP NEWS platform, was neither created nor published by the official TOP NEWS news page. The relevant notice is provided below.
Media Secretary to Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee Chairman Eran Wickramaratne
To further verify the matter, we contacted Mr. Eran Wickramaratne’s media secretary. She confirmed that the post is entirely false and stated that Mr. Wickramaratne has never advocated for or referred to a system of player selection based on nationality or religion. She also emphasized the importance of acting responsibly regarding such content, noting that numerous false and misleading posts concerning Mr. Wickramaratne are currently being circulated with the apparent intention of misleading the public.
Sri Lanka Cricket
Upon inquiry, Sri Lanka Cricket Media Manager Prasanna Rodrigue also confirmed that the social media post currently being circulated is false.
Claim 2
Social Media Posts:
A social media post was shared, attributing to “Cricket Interim Committee Chairman Eran” a statement claiming that the two Sri Lankan cricketers, who were banned for filming female doctors bathing, were students of a Buddhist school in Colombo.
This post was additionally shared on social media as follows.
Fact Check:
On 27 April 2026, several women attending a medical workshop at a Narahenpita hotel were reportedly filmed through a window while bathing. Following a 119 emergency call, Narahenpita Police investigated and arrested two national Under-19 cricket team members, aged 18 and 19, who were staying at the hotel for training at R. Premadasa Stadium. The suspects were produced before the Aluthkade Magistrate’s Court on 29 April and released on personal bail of Rs. 500,000 each. The matter is scheduled to be taken up again on 25 May. Further details regarding the incident are available in the referenced sources here and here.
We checked for media reports that supported the claim that Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, Chairman of the newly appointed Cricket Transformation Committee, stated the two cricketers concerned were students of a Buddhist school in Colombo; however, no such reports could be found upon verification.
As the relevant social media post was presented in a news format attributed to the News 19 Facebook page, steps were taken to verify whether it had been published on the official page; however, no such post could be found on the News 19 Facebook page.
Media Secretary to Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee Chairman Eran Wickramaratne
To further verify the matter, we contacted the media secretary of Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, who confirmed that he has not made any such statement regarding the incident. She further emphasised the need for vigilance in relation to the false posts currently being circulated on social media concerning Mr. Wickramaratne.
Since no official source has confirmed that these two players are from a Buddhist school in Colombo, we have not commented on the students’ schools in this fact-finding investigation.
Also Read: Did Mr. Eran Wickramaratne say that a born-again Christian could become the President of Sri Lanka?
Is it a photo of a group of Born Again followers?
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Conclusion:
Our investigation confirms that the circulating reports alleging that Mr. Eran Wickramaratne, following his appointment as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Transformation Committee, introduced a player selection quota based on nationality and religion are false. The notes being circulated alleging that Mr. Eran Wickramaratne stated that the two Sri Lankan Under-19 cricketers recently recorded in a hotel in Colombo while bathing are students of a Buddhist school in Colombo are also false.”
Title: Eran Wickramaratne Did NOT Introduce Ethnic Quotas or Comment on U-19 Player Schools
Fact Check By: Pavithra Hansani
Result: False
