Former Sri Lanka Cricket chief selector Pramodya Wickramasinghe has filed legal action in the Commercial High Court of Colombo, seeking Rs. 75 million in compensation over what he calls the unfair and improper termination of his appointment.
The claim covers breach of contract, loss of income and damage to his professional reputation, and asks for interest and legal costs on top of the Rs. 75 million.
The contract at the centre of the case
Wickramasinghe was appointed chairman of the five-member national selection committee on 17 December 2025, with the approval of the Sports Minister, on a two-year term. The committee was replaced in May 2026 in a restructuring of the selection set-up — roughly five months into a 24-month appointment.
He argues the Cricket Transformation Committee — the interim body running Sri Lanka Cricket — ended the appointment without prior notice, sufficient justification, or due process, and that it acted “irrationally and contrary to the best interests of Sri Lankan cricket” in cutting short an existing contractual appointment.
He also says he set aside other professional and business interests to take the job, so that the removal cost him not only contracted remuneration but income from opportunities he had turned down.
Four months of escalation
The suit is the third and sharpest step in a dispute that has run since May:
- May 2026 — Wickramasinghe wrote to the Sports Ministry and SLC seeking written clarification of what he called the “premature rescission” of his contract, asking for the administrative reasons behind it.
- August 2026 — he said a Letter of Demand had been sent over the termination but had drawn no positive response, and announced he would go to court (Daily Mirror, 12 August).
- September 2026 — the case is filed in the Commercial High Court.
The committee removed alongside him comprised Tharanga Paranavitana, Indika de Saram, Vinothen John and Rasanjali de Alwis. It was succeeded in May by a five-member panel chaired by Kapila Wijegunawardena, with Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage saying at the time that the national team needed a new direction.
The achievements cited are from an earlier stint
Wickramasinghe’s statement lists a run of results as evidence of his record: the 2022 T20 Asia Cup title, the final of the 2023 Asia Cup, an unbeaten 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier campaign, fifth place in the 2021–2023 ICC World Test Championship, a 3–2 ODI series win over Australia in 2022, and a 2–1 T20I series win over India in 2021.
Those results predate the appointment now in dispute, and his statement attributes them to his previous tenure as chairman of selectors rather than to the five-month spell that was cut short. The claim rests on the contract, not on the record of the terminated committee.
One source, two outlets
Both reports of the filing originate from a single press release issued by Wickramasinghe on 19 September. Sri Lanka Cricket, the Transformation Committee and the Sports Ministry have not responded publicly, and no account of the defence has been reported. The figures and characterisations above are the claimant’s.
Not reported
Neither report gives the case number, the filing date, the named defendants, or the next hearing date — only that the matter is now before the Commercial High Court. It is not stated whether SLC, the Transformation Committee, the Sports Ministry or all three are respondents.
How the Rs. 75 million was arrived at is not explained, and the value of the remaining 19 months of the contract has not been disclosed, so the share of the claim representing lost remuneration as against reputational damage is unknown. Nor is it reported what reason, if any, was eventually given for the termination — the question Wickramasinghe first asked in May and says has never been answered.
