In August 2023, Wanindu Hasaranga had announced his retirement from Test cricket. His unremarkable career in the format – four games, 196 runs at 28, four wickets at 101 – are distinctly inferior to his achievements in limited-overs cricket. At that point, it seemed a logical career move.

Yet, Sri Lanka included him for their Test series in Bangladesh. This was surprising on two counts. While unretiring is not rare, they are not as common in Test cricket. And the Test series would overlap with the IPL, where he is one of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s overseas players.

Shortly afterwards, the ICC gave him three demerit points for having “snatched his cap from one of the umpires and ridiculed the umpiring in the match”. His eight demerit points accumulated in a 24-month period were enough to earn him a ban for two Tests or four ODIs or four T20Is. Since he was part of the Test squad, the ban would lapse after the Test series.

Sri Lanka’s next international men’s assignment is the T20 World Cup. Had Hasaranga not been part of the Test squad, he would have had to serve his suspension during the World Cup. In other words, Sri Lanka would have been without their captain and biggest name in the format today for the entire group stage.

This led to speculations that the entire episode of inclusion might have been a deliberate act to exploit a loophole in the ICC’s penalty system by including Hasaranga in a squad in a format he does not play. 

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However, Sri Lanka Cricket selection committee member Ajantha Mendis told ESPNcricinfo that Hasaranga had communicated his decision to unretire long before his ban. “It was about two weeks ago that he told us he was open to playing Tests again,” he said. “We know how it looks, but this decision was taken well before the final ODI.”

The same report also mentions that “the ICC is believed to have been in touch with SLC about the matter”.

It is worth a mention that Clause 7.9.3 of the Playing Conditions state that “the ICC shall apply the suspension points to the subsequent international matches in which the player is most likely to participate in”. Hasaranga’s last Test match was in April 2021, while he has not played first-class cricket since March 2023.