Unscheduled Indian tour hurt SL WC preparations: Official

The hurriedly arranged tour of India by Sri Lankan cricket administrators last year hurt the team's chances of going beyond the quarter-final stage of the World Cup, a former SLC co-member has said.
In a letter to the SLC Chairman Jayantha Dharmadasa, Shammi Silva says the Indian tour, which Sri Lanka lost 5-0, upset the fitness program aimed at the 50-over showpiece event.
Silva urges the summoning of an emergency executive committee meeting to discuss and call for explanations on Sri Lanka's early exit.
Silva cites selection blunders, selecting players on political influence and the wrong choice of the present national coach as the reason which contributed to Sri Lanka's exit.

Without naming Marvan Atapattu, the current national coach, Silva says Sri Lanka would have been better off with a foreign coach, a view supported by the chairman of selectors Sanath Jayasuriya, Silva claims.
He puts down internal fighting among the coaching staff as another reason for Sri Lanka's poor showing.
This was the first time since the 1999 World Cup held in England that Sri Lanka had failed to secure a place among the final-four places.
In 2007 and 2011 they were runners up to Australia and India respectively while the Kangaroos beat them in the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup held in South Africa.