Sri Lanka's sports minister on Tuesday (December 12) repealed the sacking of the country's cricket board over allegations of corruption, in a bid to end its suspension by the International Cricket Council.

Harin Fernando's decision lays the foundation for the ICC to end its sanctions on Sri Lanka Cricket for failing to prevent "government interference" in its administration.

"I signed a gazette to revoke the decision appointing an interim committee for Sri Lanka Cricket, aiming to lift our ICC suspension," Fernando posted on social media platform X.

Fernando said he had also asked the ICC for its "observations" on an audit report into alleged corruption by the board during the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.

Fernando's predecessor Roshan Ranasinghe dismissed the elected board in November after accusing the officials of gross corruption, a charge they have refused and are challenging in court.

As a result, the ICC suspended SLC, saying that the board had failed to stop political interference.

All this led to Roshan Ranasinghe's sacking late last month. Ranasinghe had been divided over the running of SLC with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, refusing the latter's demands to withdraw the sacking of the board.

Last month, Ranasinghe also expressed fearing for his life over his work "to clean up the cricket board".

"If I am assassinated on the road, the president and his chief of staff will be responsible," he had said.

After the ICC imposed its ban in November, Sri Lanka lost the hosting rights for the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2024, which has since been relocated to South Africa.

(With AFP Inputs)