Sri Lankan player wants to retire from cricket over tough fitness tests

Sri Lanka's white-ball cricketer Bhanuka Rajapaksa has informed the Sri Lanka Cricket board of his decision to retire from international cricket as the national selection committee has set tougher fitness benchmarks.

According to The Papare, Rajapaksa has written a letter to the governing body requesting an exemption from the upcoming fitness test for all Sri Lankan national players arranged on January 7, considering the hectic schedule in the past six months ended on December 23 with the Lanka Premier League.

In his letter, Rajapaksa has requested the SLC to undergo the fitness test in March, after the team completes their white-ball series against Zimbabwe, Australia and India.

According to the new fitness benchmarks, the Lanka players need to complete a 2km run in 8 minutes and 10 seconds, and also need to have their skin-folds under 70, before they are available for selection for the upcoming three-match series against Zimbabwe on January 16. Last year, when the 2km run was introduced, the benchmark was 8 minutes and 35 seconds, and skin-folds under 85.

Rajapaksa has represented Sri Lanka in 5 ODIs and 18 T20Is so far. He was one of the best players for his side during the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup in UAE, scoring 155 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 143.51.