Following a humbling World Cup defeat to India, Sri Lanka’s sports minister, Roshan Ranasinghe, disbanded the national cricket board on Monday. For months, Ranasinghe had been at odds with Sri Lanka Cricket over claims of rampant corruption within the organization. Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lanka’s World Cup-winning captain in 1996, has been named head of a new temporary board, according to Ranasinghe’s office. A retired Supreme Court justice and a former board president are among the seven members of the new committee.

This judgment occurred a day after the resignation of the board’s secretary, Mohan de Silva. In the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s humiliating 302-run loss to India, Ranasinghe publicly called for the resignation of the entire board. This defeat, in which Sri Lanka was 14-6 at one point before being all out for 55 chasing India’s 358, caused widespread fury and demonstrations.

Ranasinghe earlier labeled Sri Lanka Cricket executives as “traitorous and corrupt.” He also wrote to the International Cricket Council (ICC) for understanding and help, since the organization had been bombarded with concerns about player discipline difficulties, management corruption, financial malfeasance, and match-fixing claims..

While the ICC had previously forced Ranasinghe to withdraw a three-member panel investigating corruption allegations, there was no immediate reaction to his latest decision to dismiss the board. Sri Lanka has not won the World Cup since 1996, and Ranasinghe attributed this decline to the board’s actions.

Prasanna Ranatunga, a cabinet minister and the brother of the newly appointed temporary board head, has denounced the 1996 triumph as the impetus for financial mismanagement and corruption within Sri Lanka Cricket. Former sports minister Harin Fernando enacted strong anti-corruption legislation in 2019 after the ICC named Sri Lanka one of the world’s most corrupt cricketing nations.