Sri Lankan U-15 cricket team deported from Chennai

CHENNAI: Sri Lanka’s U-15 team had to return home after being deported from Chennai by the Indian government, which has cited security reasons for their action.

The Sri Lankan U-15 had reached Chennai on Sunday on the invitation of a local club to participate in a trilateral series.

According to Indian media there is extreme resentment in India after an article appeared on a Sri Lankan website against the Chief minister of Tamil Nado Jay Lalita and Indian Prime minister Narender Modi, because of which the local police decided to send the visitors back home.

The article triggered widespread public and political outrage in the state prompting Sri Lanka to remove it and issue an unqualified apology to the two leaders.

Incidentally, in 2012, Jayalalithaa had, in line with her strident stance against Sri Lanka, ordered the sending home of a soccer team from that country which arrived here to play a friendly match.

The action came against the backdrop of her opposition to India training Sri Lankan military personnel not only in the state but also anywhere else in the country, saying the Lankan forces had committed war crimes against Tamils in the island nation.