Anger over Sri Lanka's miserable World Cup campaign has erupted after a humiliating 302-run thrashing by hosts India, with the island nation's sports minister demanding the cricket board's resignation.
Sri Lanka was dismissed for 55 while chasing 358 in Mumbai on Thursday, the fourth-lowest total at a World Cup tournament.
Sports minister Roshan Fernando, who has long been at loggerheads with the board and previously accused it of being "traitorous and corrupt", upped the stakes by telling officials and selectors to quit.
"Sri Lanka Cricket officials have no moral or ethical right to remain in office," the minister said in a statement issued on Friday night. "They should voluntarily resign."
Local newspapers echoed Fernando's dismay with mass daily Lankadeepa on Saturday writing that explanations were needed from coaching staff over the "heart-wrenching defeat".
"SACK THEM ALL," screamed the front-page headline of the Daily Mirror, in reference to the board.
There was no immediate formal comment from Sri Lanka Cricket, but board officials said it had sought an explanation from coaching staff over the crushing defeat.
Sri Lanka has not won the Cricket World Cup since its sole victory in 1996, with Fernando blaming the board for the "deterioration" of standards since then.
Another cabinet minister, Prasanna Ranatunga, told parliament in August that Sri Lanka's win turned out to be a "curse" in disguise that fostered a culture of corruption spanning decades.
"The World Cup victory was the biggest curse for our cricket," said Ranatunga, the younger brother of Arjuna Ranatunga, who skippered Sri Lanka to victory that year.
"Money started flowing to the cricket board after 1996 and with that came those who wanted to steal."
Sri Lanka will aim to put the disappointment of their World Cup hammering by India behind them and focus on finishing as high as possible in the table to secure a spot in the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan, assistant coach Naveed Nawaz said.
The 1996 world champions, who came through a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe to reach the showpiece in India, were dismissed for 55 and suffered a 302-run loss to the hosts on Thursday that left them seventh in the table on four points.
The seven highest finishers in the World Cup will join hosts Pakistan in the Champions Trophy.
"It's going to be important that we finish above the eight to qualify for the Champions Trophy.
We've got to find a factor to motivate the boys and keep them alive because we had the same issue in June when we played the qualifiers," Nawaz said.
"So there was no guarantee when we went into Zimbabwe to qualify for the World Cup. We had to win all our games and as well we came to the finals to qualify for this tournament.
"We've crossed that barrier and we've got a pretty young team. So, we'll get the boys motivated and see what we can do in the next two games, try and bring out our best cricket."
India had bundled out the island nation for 50 to seal a 10-wicket victory in the final of the regional Asia Cup in Colombo before the World Cup and Nawaz said Sri Lankan cricket was not in decline although there was cause for concern.
"We've got a young group of players. We've got only a few guys who have played over 100 one-day internationals in this group," Nawaz said.
"I think it's a rebuilding stage where we are, a couple of new players are still learning the trade.
"We have some exciting prospects back home and also in this group, and I hope they'll take every opportunity to learn from the mistakes and move forward and do well in the future."
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
