Tillekaratne Dilshan

British media reported Friday that Sri Lanka’s aggressive opener Tillekaratne Dilshan is under the ICC scanner for his alleged links with a bookmaker, but Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) denied the report.

SLC said it was pacer Dilhara Fernando, who was approached by a bookie, and that the incident was reported to the ICC when Dilhara reported about this to the team management. British daily ‘The Daily Mail’ reported that Dilshan was the player named in a Sri Lankan cricket board report to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit last year after he was allegedly spotted with a suspected illegal bookmaker in a London nightclub.

The report was filed by the SL team manager after captain K Sangakkara passed on suspicions among team-mates that Dilshan had been seen with the bookie during the World T20 tournament in England in June 2009.

The Sri Lankans followed the rules laid down by ICC, reporting the alleged incident as soon as it was made known to the team management. But Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara defended Dilshan and said that “neither I nor the Sri Lankan cricket board ever reported anything specific against any team mate”.

Sangakkara said “ Fernando should be praised for following the rules” and alerting the Sri Lanka authorities, who, in turn, shared the information with the ICC.”We have no reasons to suspect any of our team members being involved in fixing of any sort. We encourage players to report any suspicious behaviour they observe”, Sangakkara was quoted as saying by TV channels.

Sangakkara said that he practised with Tillekaratne in the morning and also had a word with him after the British daily claimed that Dilshan was named to ICC’s Anti corruption unit last year.

Sangakkara said: “I have not seen anything of this sort during the IPL. It was time to restore public confidence in cricket. We need to give good game to the sports. I am sure people will embrace the game.”

Sri Lankan board’s chief executive Ajith Jayasekara also claimed that Dilshan wasn’t under ICC scanner.”We don’t go by speculation or what any ‘DAILY’ wants to say. We don’t want to get carried away by such reports.

The Anti corruption Unit of the ICC has not reported any such involvement of any player. We can’t go by speculation. This has not been brought to our notice by the anti-corruption unit of the ICC. There is no evidence against any Sri Lankan player,” Jayasekara stated.

By: Devesh D. Bhuwad

Tags: British Media, Cricket, Dilhara Fernando, ICC, SLC, Sports, Sri Lanka Cricket, Tillekaratne Dilshan