Sri Lanka spinner Praveen Jayawickrama banned from cricket for corruption

Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama has been banned from cricket for a year by the sport’s world governing body after he pleaded guilty to a corruption charge.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said the 26-year-old spinner, who has not been included in a national squad since June 2022, admitted breaching the body’s anti-corruption code.

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned Sri Lanka player Praveen Jayawickrama from all cricket for one year, of which six months are suspended, after he admitted breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code,” the apex cricketing body said in a statement on Wednesday night.

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” Jayawickrama admitted to being in breach of the following provision under the Code: Article 2.4.7 – Obstructing or delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence or may lead to the discovery of evidence of corrupt conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code.

“As a result of the admission, Jayawickrama has accepted a sanction of a one-year period of ineligibility, of which the last six months are suspended.”

He was accused of failing to report an approach to fix a match during the Sri Lanka Premier League tournament in 2021, as well as future international matches. He was also accused of deleting messages on his phone relating to the approach.

Jayawickrama has played five international matches in each of the sport’s three formats since his international debut in April 2021 in a Test against Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka introduced tough laws in 2019 to fight corruption in sports, including match-fixing in cricket, the country’s most popular sport.

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