Sri Lanka Cricket suspends Gunathilaka after being charged with sexual assault in Australia

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has suspended Danushka Gunathilaka after being charged with sexual assault in Australia!

As reported, Cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka is charged with four counts of sexual assault in Australia.

• Sri Lanka cricket star was dragged out of his team’s hotel in Sydney by police as his team was to fly back to the country.
  
• He has been charged with four counts of rape after allegedly assaulting a woman he met on a dating app.
• The 31-year-old cricketer was denied bail by a court in Sydney on Monday.
• The cricketer is reported to have spent a night in custody at the Surry Hills Police Station before appearing in handcuffs and a grey T-shirt via video link at the court.
• The left-handed batsman has played nearly 100 T20 and One-Day Internationals for Sri Lanka and eight Test matches.

The development has led the Sri Lankan cricket board to suspend its cricketer from all forms of cricket.

The 31-year-old was charged with sexual assault while in Australia to play in the T20 World Cup and was denied bail by a court in Sydney on Monday.

“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,” the SLC said in a statement.

SLC added that it had a “zero tolerance” policy for any such conduct and will cooperate with Australian law enforcement.

SLC will carry out an inquiry into the incident, SLC added.

The ExCo of SLC decided to suspend national player Danushka Gunathilaka from all forms of cricket with immediate effect and will not consider him for any selections. READ 👇https://t.co/0qp6lNVEoH

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) November 7, 2022

Danushka Gunathilaka played a first-round World Cup match against Namibia but was ruled out of the remainder of the T20 tournament with a hamstring injury.

However, the Srilankan team was eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup, after losing to England on Saturday in their final match of the tournament. 

Consultant coach and former captain Mahela Jayawardene, who had traveled with the team to Australia, told reporters at the airport upon their arrival in Sri Lanka that it would be up to the Australian judicial system to determine what had happened.

“The players who go on these tournaments are not school kids, they are professionals and they must take responsibility for their behavior and the decisions they make,” Jayawardene said.

Meanwhile, NSW Police confirmed a Sri Lankan national was arrested, alleging the pair met on a dating app.

“The woman met with the man after communicating with him for a number of days via an online dating application. It’s alleged he then sexually assaulted her on the evening of November 2,” the police said.