The Former Sri Lanka Spinner Sachithra Senanayake was arrested by Sri Lanka Police on Wednesday on match-fixing allegations.
Sachithra Senanayake arrested on match-fixing allegations
According to PTI reports, Sachithra Senanayake surrendered to the Sports Corruption Investigation Unit. The arrest was made with reference to the Prevention of Offences Relating to Sports Act which was introduced in 2019 to demolish corruption in sports.
Under this law, “any person who solicits, entices, persuades, or instructs any person… to influence the result, progress, conduct … of any sport, commits the offense of corruption in sports”. According to the reports from Sri Lanka police, he will be produced in court in the next 24 hours.
The arrest was due to his involvement in match fixing on the Lanka premier League 2020, where he tempted two players to fix games on the telephone. He did not participate and said to be outside of Sri Lanka during the tournament. The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s court ordered the controllers General of Immigration and Emigration to impose a travel ban on Senanayake, which will be effective for a month period on August 14.
The Attorney General’s Department had been instructed by the Special Investigation Unit of the Sports Ministry to frame criminal charges against the former off-spinner.
The 38-year-old player made his debut in the 2011-12 season and represented Sri Lanka in One Test, 49 ODIs, and 24 T20s Internationals between 2012 and 2016 and was accused of trying to fix games during the 2020 Lanka Premier League.
He was banned by ICC in 2014 due to problems with his bowling actions. He made his return to international cricket in 2015 with changes in his bowling actions but it wasn’t effective and he made his last international appearance in aT20I against Australia in September 2016.
He had dismissed 53 wickets to his name in ODIs with his best figure of 4/13. In T20Is, Senanayake dismissed 25 wickets with a best of 4/46.
Senanayake was part of Sri Lanka’s squad which won the T20 World Cup in 2014. He was also part of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise in the IPL.
The Asia Cup 2023 is the 16th edition of the continental event which is co-hosted by Sri Lanka and Pakistan. With the completion of the group stages India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh were qualified for the Super Fours. The first match of the Super Fours between Pakistan and Bangladesh is scheduled to play on September 06, at Gaddafi Stadium.
Check: Asia Cup 2023 points table with NRR and Team Standing
