Sri Lanka’s centrally-contracted players will need to prove they are in shape before they can head off to this year’s IPL, after the board decided to make no-objection certificates (NOCs) conditional on a new round of fitness tests. It is a straightforward message: pass the “physical performance test” and you’re free to travel; fail it and you stay put.
Dushmantha Chameera, Pathum Nissanka and Kamindu Mendis have already ticked the box, so Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad will see them on time. Others are in limbo. “Nuwan Thushara’s eligibility for a NOC to participate in the IPL will be subject to the outcome of his physical performance test,” the board said. A second line added: “Wanindu Hasaranga, Eshan Malinga, and Matheesha Pathirana, who have requested NOCs to participate in IPL 2026, are yet to undergo the physical performance test, as they are still undergoing rehabilitation to recover from injuries sustained.”
All three picked up those knocks either just before or during the recent T20 World Cup. Pathirana’s issue is the most public: Kolkata Knight Riders have already conceded he will miss the opening fortnight and hope to have him from mid-April. Hasaranga, now with Lucknow Super Giants, is still easing back from an ankle problem, while young quick Malinga (no relation to Lasith) is similarly grounded.
Behind the tougher stance is the new men’s selection panel headed by Pramodya Wickramasinghe and a push from the Sports Ministry. With no international fixtures until late May, selectors see March and April as a mini pre-season – time to sharpen conditioning rather than hop straight into franchise cricket. The test itself includes several stations, the headline act being a timed 2-kilometre run that has tripped players up before.
“At present, SLC is conducting an eight-week specialised physical training programme for all nationally contracted players,” the board explained. “This initiative aims to enhance players’ physical performance standards in preparation for upcoming international assignments. Along with this programme, players are also undergoing the mandatory physical performance tests, a routine process followed to check the fitness standards of the players. Only those who successfully meet the required standards of the physical performance tests will be cleared to participate in the ongoing domestic tournament and also granted an NOC to take part in IPL 2026.”
Some within the squad welcome the clarity; others, privately, question whether a single pass-or-fail measure is the right way to manage different bodies and roles. Either way, the deadline is firm. The 2026 IPL season starts on 28 March, so the rehabilitation group has little more than a week to tick every box if they want to be on that first flight out.
For now the ball – and perhaps the stopwatch – is in their court.
