Former Sri Lankan performance analyst Sanath Jayasundara was banned for seven years by the ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal
Fixing in sport is not something new and cricket has had quite a few incidents of fixing over the years. Many players have been found guilty of fixing matches and have been punished accordingly. The latest name in this list of Sri Lanka’s former performance analyst Sanath Jayasundara.
Sanath Jayasundara Banned for Seven Years By ICC
The former performance analyst has been founded guilty of breaching the ICC anti-corruption code. Jayasndara was founded guilty for attempting to bribe Sri Lanka’s then sports minister Harin Fernando to “influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of an international match”.
Fernando then reported this to the Anti-Corruption Unit back in January 2019 which is less than a month after his appointment as the sports minister of Sri Lanka.
Jayasundara was founded guilty by the tribunal under.
- Article 2.1.3 – “Offering bribes or other rewards to the country’s sports minister to contrive in any way or otherwise influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of an international match.”
- Article 2.4.7 – “Obstructing or delaying an ACU investigation into possible corrupt conduct under the anti-corruption code.”
Alex Marshall, General manager of ICC Integrity Unit spoke about this. “Jayasundara’s attempt to bribe a Minister is a grave transgression while the efforts to cover up his tracks and the lack of remorse are hugely disappointing”, he said.
“ “We won’t tolerate corrupt conduct in our sport and my team will be relentless in preventing such behavior. This ban should serve as a deterrent for anyone who may be tempted along the wrong path”, Marshall added.
Sri Lankan Cricket in Trouble On and Off the Field
Nothing is going right for Sri Lankan cricket at the moment. Before Jayasundara’s ban, their players had a dispute with the board over their salaries. Then they lost 2-0 against England recently. Their performance in the past few years has been very poor especially after the retirement of the big names like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena.
Their players are not at all performing and that’s not a good sign for Sri Lankan cricket as well as for cricket as a sport.