Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara on Wednesday accused the staff of Irish airline Ryanair of discriminatory behaviour at Dublin airport. Taking to social media, the Rajasthan Royals head coach alleged that he and his family were subjected to threatening behaviour by the airline’s gate personnel.

Sangakkara expressed his disappointment and shock at the experience in a post on X, describing it as unacceptable.

"Has anyone experienced discriminatory gate personnel @Ryanair in Dublin?" Sangakkara wrote.

“I was with my family just now, and it was shocking. The tone of address, the mishandling of procedure, and the threatening behaviour. Unacceptable for any passenger. First bad experience in Dublin.”

The 48-year-old, however, did not reveal the exact circumstances that led to the confrontation with the gate personnel.

His post instantly drew a response from fellow Sri Lankan Sanjiva Weerawarana, who shared that he had experienced a similar ordeal.

"Kumar, I have experienced discrimination in every part of the West. I lived there for 16 years, travelled back and forth for another 25, and now I'm done," Weerawarana wrote. He added that he no longer wished to travel there unless required.

Responding to Weerawarana, Sangakkara wrote: "It is quite jarring when you experience it @sanjiva."

At the time of writing, Ryanair had not issued a response to Sangakkara's allegations.

Widely regarded as one of Sri Lanka's greatest cricketers, Sangakkara retired from international cricket in 2015 after 594 appearances across formats. He scored 12,400 runs in Tests and 14,234 in ODIs.

He was re-appointed as Rajasthan Royals head coach last year. His previous stint with the IPL franchise ran from 2021 to 2024, during which he was also promoted to director of cricket. Under his tenure, RR reached their first IPL final since 2008 in 2022, but lost to the Gujarat Titans. In 2026, they finished fourth.