Nuwan Thushara takes Sri Lanka Cricket to Court

By. hagya Silva

Sri Lanka cricketer Nuwan Thushara has filed a plaint before the Colombo District Court challenging the refusal of Sri Lanka Cricket to provide him with what is known as a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to ensure he could play for his franchise team at the sport’s most lucrative showpiece called the Indian Premier League (IPL) which commenced last week.

In his plaint, Thushara, a fast bowling allrounder, is seeking an order compelling Sri Lanka Cricket to issue the NOC to permit him represent the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the 2026 IPL and other franchise premier league tournaments.

The plaint was filed through senior attorney GG Arulpragasam and was taken up yesterday before the Colombo District Court. After consideration of the submissions, the Colombo District Court fixed the matter for hearing on April 9 and directed that notice be issued on the respondents who are Sri Lanka Cricket president  Shammi Silva, secretary Bandula Dissanayake, treasurer Sujeewa Godaliyadda and chief executive officer Ashley de Silva.

Thushara, 31, was snapped up by the IPL franchise team Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2024 and was looking forward to playing his part like several other Sri Lankan players in the past and present. He made his debut for Sri Lanka against Australia at Sydney in 2022 and since then has been performing for as many as ten franchise teams in several countries.

Thushara first participated in the IPL in 2024 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a prize tag of 1.60 Indian crore equivalent to Rs. 54 million in Sri Lanka money.