Former Sri Lanka opener Sanath Jayasuriya has been suspended for a span of two years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) from all forms of cricketing activities for breaching two counts of its Anti-Corruption Code (ACC). Although Jayasuriya claimed innocence in the matter, another former Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene asked: “why not cooperate?”
Sanath played international cricket for two decades and has been one of the island nation’s most explosive batsmen. He called the ICC’s decision to penalize him as “unfortunate” and claimed that the ICC has no evidence of “corruption, betting or misuse of inside information” against him. The governing body charged him for failing to cooperate with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and delaying/obstructing the investigation.
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Jayawardene, who led Sri Lanka to the final of the ICC World Cup in 2007 and slammed a century in the final of the 2011 edition, reacted to the development and expressed his need to protect the game from the corrupt. On Twitter, the former skipper said that it is a “sad day for SL cricket” and said, “if anyone loves the beautiful game in our country should expose the corrupted so that we protect the next generation”.
Its a sad day for SL cricket to see one of their favorite sons getting a two year suspension from @ICC. why not cooperate? If any one loves the beutiful game in our country should expose the curupted so we protect the next genaration. #Values
— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) February 27, 2019
Jayasuriya, who was also accused of destroying the evidence as part of the bigger investigation by the ICC, said he accepted the charges for the greater good and to protect cricket’s integrity.
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As per a statement issued by the ICC, the former cricketer who won the man of the series award in the 1996 World Cup, was found guilty of breaching Article 2.4.6 (failure or refusal to cooperate with any investigation carried out by the ACU and Article 2.4.7 (obstructing delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU).
Jayasuriya played 110 Tests, 445 ODIs and 31 T20Is to score over 21,000 runs and take 440 wickets. He has 42 international hundreds and six five-wicket hauls.
