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The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on November 07 (Monday) suspended rape-accused Danushka Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket with immediate effect. In what came as an embarrassing development for Sri Lankan cricket and its fans, the senior national team's batter Gunathilaka was reportedly arrested in Sydney on November 05 (Saturday) after being accused of rape charges by a woman. According to reports, Gunathilaka was denied bail and he will continue to remain in Australian custody. Reportedly, the Sri Lankan cricketer appeared via video link in handcuffs at a Sydney court on November 07 to seek bail after he was charged with four counts of sexual assault.
"The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket decided to suspend national player Danushka Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket with immediate effect and will not consider him for any selections after being informed that Mr. Gunathilaka was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a woman in Australia," the Sri Lanka cricket said in a statement.
"Furthermore, Sri Lanka Cricket will take the necessary steps to promptly carry out an inquiry into the alleged offense, and, upon conclusion of the aforementioned court case in Australia, steps will be taken to penalize the said player if found guilty.
“Sri Lanka Cricket emphasised that it adopts a “zero tolerance” policy for any such conduct by a player and that they will provide all the required support to the Australian law enforcement authorities to carry out an impartial inquiry into the incident,” the statement added.
The 31-year-old Gunathilaka was with the Sri Lankan team when they played England in Sydney but was not part of the playing XI as a hamstring injury had earlier drawn curtains to his 2022 World Cup campaign. Despite being replaced by Ashen Bandara, Gunathilaka remained with the team in Australia.
The left-handed batter's arrest reportedly took place after Sri Lanka's defeat against England on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan team left for Colombo early on November 06 (Sunday) without Gunathilaka.
The 31-year-old was involved in a similar incident in 2018 when Sri Lankan police probed him and his friend for the alleged rape of a Norwegian woman in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Cricket board then suspended the batter. However, the police dismissed the charges against the Sri Lankan batter later.
The left-handed batter has played eight Test matches, 47 ODIs and 46 T20Is for the Islanders, scoring over 2,500 runs in international cricket.
