Kumar Sangakkara has opened up on what he believes was the racist treatment he and his family received during an argument at check-in at Dublin airport after a member of Ryanair staff told them: ‘You people with your kinds of passports should expect this.’

Sangakkara, who scored 12,400 runs in a glittering 134-Test career with Sri Lanka, was preparing to fly back to Bristol following a two-day trip to celebrate his 49th birthday when he says he was spoken to rudely by a woman at the check-in desk following confusion over an e-visa.

He says he went out of his way to make ‘doubly sure’ he was following the correct procedure with his family’s Sri Lankan passports.

But despite being assured two hours earlier by staff at the visa check desk that he didn’t need to reproduce the e-visas on his mobile phone at the boarding gate – a process that can take several minutes – and despite already clearing security, he was still told to step aside and download the e-visas after he arrived at the gate.

Sangakkara told Daily Mail Sport: ‘I said to one of the lady’s colleagues, “I will do this, but it is a bit of a procedure.” I also said: “We went to your visa desk just to avoid this confusion. They gave us one message, and it’s a bit confusing to passengers. But give us time.”

Kumar Sangakkara has hit out at Ryanair over an alleged racism storm at Dublin Airport

The cricket legend claims a member of staff berated him and his wife during boarding

‘As I was accessing the e-visa on the side, this lady from behind the desk raised her voice so the entire area could hear and said: “Hurry up! Hurry up! You have to do this quickly, otherwise I’m going to close boarding. Hurry up and get this done. Step aside now.” Sangakkara asked for more time to access the e-visas, only to be told once again to hurry up, at which point he told the lady she was being ‘very rude’.

He says she responded by saying he was being ‘argumentative and aggressive’, adding: ‘I’m going to treat you as a threat to other passengers on board and not board you.’

Sangakkara says: ‘And then she made the comment that you people with your kinds of passports should expect this.’

At this point, Sangakkara’s wife, Yehali, said: ‘You do realise what you said is so offensive, right? We are trying to access our passports, and you are shouting at us here in front of all these people. And you just made a very offensive comment. We’ve had such a good trip to Dublin, met such nice people. The only rude person we have met is you.’

The Sangakkaras were eventually allowed to board, but not before Kumar asked for the lady’s name so he could register a formal complaint. He says she replied: ‘I don’t have to give you my name. And if you keep asking for this, I’m not going to board you because I will consider you a threat.

‘Then my wife explained step by step why we were in Ireland, all of which she didn’t even have to do. But she was very calm, very measured, and she explained to her how rude it was, how offensive her remark was, because to us, I would take that as a very racist comment.

Sangakkara has filed a 2,000-word complaint to the budget airline over his treatment

‘Ryanair said I had refused to show my visa, which is completely untrue. I would completely understand if I had been an a** and refused, but I never play the race card for the sake of it, and this was an offensive comment.’

Earlier, Ryanair had insisted: ‘This passenger refused to provide the required visa documentation when requested by a gate agent carrying out mandatory immigration checks. Following completion of these checks and verification of this passenger’s eligibility to travel, this passenger travelled on this scheduled flight from Dublin to Bristol (28 Oct).’

Sangakkara has since filled out a Ryanair complaint form, explaining in 2,000 words the events of Wednesday, and says he was told to expect a response from the airline within eight days.

He added: ‘We had a lovely time in Dublin. It’s a beautiful city and we had two great days. And this one person on the way back does this, and then says that I refused to show my visas. It is a very bad representation.

‘I didn’t go into this looking for any publicity. It’s just a case of this is wrong, and it shouldn’t have happened – to me or to anyone.’