Colombo: T20 World Cup winner Sachithra Senanayake has been officially charged in a match-fixing case.
The Hambantota High Court has indicted the former Sri Lanka off-spinner for attempting to lure a fellow player into match-fixing during the Lanka Premier League (LPL), reported PTI.
A member of Sri Lanka’s 2014 T20 World Cup-winning squad, Senanayake becomes the first such indictment of a national-level cricketer for match-fixing under the country’s recently-introduced anti-corruption law, the Attorney General’s Department said.
The 40-year-old international cricketer was arrested in 2023, before being released on bail.
Senanayake played 1 Test, 49 ODIs and 24 T20 Internationals for Sri Lanka between 2012 and 2016, claiming 78 wickets in all.
According to local media reports, Senanayake made the corrupt approach to another Lanka international Tharindu Ratnayake, who was playing for Colombo Kings at that time.
“Senanayake is also alleged to have contacted two other cricketers participating in the inaugural LPL in 2020 via telephone from Dubai, attempting to persuade them to engage in match-fixing,” a report in Sri Lanka’s ‘Daily Mirror’ said.
