Posts falsely claim Sri Lanka's cricket teams will adhere to new quota system
- Published on May 21, 2026 at 05:09
- 3 min read
- By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka
The governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka has not introduced a quota system mandating the make-up of future squads, contrary to posts that shared a fabricated news graphic alongside claims that an interim administration had made the change. The chair of the interim body told AFP no changes have yet been made, and team selections will be made with "no consideration given to caste, race, creed or class". The news organisation whose logo was superimposed on the circulating graphic also said it was a "fake" and they had not run any such stories.
"These people are leading the country towards religious fanaticism, religious bigotry, racism, and even towards war," says the Sinhala-language caption of a Facebook graphic shared on May 2, 2026.
According to the graphic, Sri Lanka Cricket -- the country’s wealthiest sporting body -- is changing its constitution to introduce an ethnicity and religion-based quota to select players, similar to a system employed by South Africa (archived link). South Africa has formal targets for racial representation in their cricket teams (archived link).
Superimposed text on the graphic claims Sri Lankan cricket squads will now have to be composed of "three Sinhala-Buddhist players, three Sinhala-Catholics, three Sri Lankan Tamils, one Muslim, one hill-country Tamil and one Burgher".
The graphic bears the logo of local news outlet Top News and a photo of opposition politician Eran Wickramaratne, who was appointed to lead the Sri Lanka Cricket board by the government at the end of April (archived here, here and here).
The same graphic was shared in similar Facebook posts after Wickramaratne's appointment -- part of the Sri Lankan government's decision to take temporary control of Sri Lanka Cricket, which has been plagued by allegations of corruption and mismanagement. It has also come under fire for the country's performances on the cricket pitch (archived link).
"Now, this is real racism and religious bigotry. It didn't happen when Sinhala-Buddhists were there," read a comment on one of the posts.
Another said: "This is the most ideal way. It boosts the reconciliation among every nation and religion."
While Sri Lanka Cricket's newly appointed interim administration is tasked with carrying out "structural reforms", it has not yet made changes to the body's constitution as the circulating posts claim.
No quota system
"There have been no changes to the constitution so far," Wickramaratne told AFP over WhatsApp on May 15. "However, a new constitution is expected to be introduced in the future and cricket stakeholders as well as the general public will be invited to submit their proposals and suggestions."
"Teams will be selected by the selectors with no consideration given to caste, race, creed, or class," he said.
Prasanna Rodrigo, media manager at Sri Lanka Cricket also told AFP on May 18 the claim is "fake news".
A combination of reverse image and keyword searches led to a Facebook post by Top News shared on May 3 stating the circulating graphic is a fabrication (archived link).
"We wish to responsibly inform you that the post circulating on social media, claiming to have been published by our organisation, is fake. We confirm that we have not published such a post," read the post.
"We have not published any news supporting this false claim," Dhananjaya Naranbadda, managing director of Wide Lens Media Network, which owns Top News Lk, told AFP over email on May 13.
"We have not reported any news regarding a change in the (Sri Lanka Cricket) constitution recently, especially not the one mentioned in the viral post."
AFP has previously debunked other false claims circulating in Sri Lanka that relied on fabricated graphics.
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