Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Kusal Perera set to face four-year doping ban

Earlier this month, Sri Lankan wicket-keeper Kusal Perera was pulled out of the New Zealand Tour after he was tested positive in a drug test done. “Sri Lanka cricketer has been advised that a sample provided by Kusal Janith Perera for a random testing carried out by the ICC during the recent Pakistan tour has yielded a positive result for a banned substance,” a SLC statement had said then. The right-handed opener Kaushal Silva replaced him.

Again recently after his B sample tested positive in Qatar after the ICC had originally found it contained banned substance.

This was the second such instance in the Sri Lankan cricket after Upul Tharanga had failed a dope test and was suspended for three months after testing positive for a banned substance during the 2011 World Cup. The Sri Lankan sports minister previously defended the tainted keeper hinting it was a conspiracy. “We are doing all we can to defend him, We are wondering if this allegation is a conspiracy to keep him out of next year’s T20 World Cup,” the minister had said then.

Today he said, “The ICC has informed that his B sample also has been tested positive for a banned drug, we are appealing against this because he was never found like this in the last four instances. We will back him with legal representation while doing every possible effort to help him to get out of this issue.”

Perera faces a maximum ban of four years according to the ICC’s anti-doping code.