Mahela Jayawardene reacts to ICC banning Sanath Jayasuriya for two years

Former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya has been handed a ban of two years by the International Cricket Council (ICC) from all forms of activities related to cricket for breaching two counts of its Anti-Corruption Code (ACC). Although the 49-year-old claimed innocence in the matter, another former Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene asked: “why not cooperate?” The 49-year-old Jayasuriya played international cricket for two decades and has been one of the island nation’s most explosive batsmen.

Jayasuriya called the ICC’s decision to penalise him as “unfortunate” and claimed that the international body has no evidence of “corruption, betting or misuse of inside information” against him. The governing body charged him for failing to cooperate with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) and delaying/obstructing the investigation.

Jayawardene, who led Sri Lanka to the final of the ICC World Cup in 2007 and slammed a hundred in the final of the 2011 edition, reacted to the development and expressed his need to protect the game from the corrupt. On Twitter, the 41-year-old called it to be a “sad day for SL cricket” and said, “if anyone loves the beautiful game in our country should expose the corrupted so that we protect the next generation”.

Its a sad day for SL cricket to see one of their favorite sons getting a two year suspension from @ICC. why not cooperate? If any one loves the beutiful game in our country should expose the curupted so we protect the next genaration. #Values

— Mahela Jayawardena (@MahelaJay) February 27, 2019

Accepted charges for greater good, says Jayasuriya

Jayasuriya, who was also accused of destroying the evidence as part of the bigger investigation by the ICC, said he accepted the charges for the greater good and to protect cricket’s integrity.

As per a statement issued by the ICC, the former cricketer who won the man of the series award in the 1996 World Cup, was found guilty of breaching Article 2.4.6 (failure or refusal to cooperate with any investigation carried out by the ACU and Article 2.4.7 (obstructing delaying any investigation that may be carried out by the ACU).

Jayasuriya played 110 Tests, 445 ODIs and 31 T20Is to score over 21,000 runs and take 440 wickets. He has 42 international hundreds and sic five-wicket hauls.

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