Former Sri Lankan Spinner Sachithra Senanayake Banned From Overseas Travel Due To Match Fixing Charges

During his four-year career with Sri Lanka, the former player often found himself in the middle of controversies.

Sri Lanka's Sachithra Senanayake bowls during the one-day international cricket match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Source : Getty

Sachithra Senanayake, a former Sri Lanka player has been going through match-fixing charges and as a result, he has been banned from travelling overseas by a Sri Lankan court. The former Sri Lanka player has been accused of attempting to fix the games of the  2020 Lanka Premier League. The 38-year-old reportedly approached two players to fix games over the phone.  The Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court gave an order to the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration to inflict a travel ban on Senanayake. The ban will be considered for a three-month period.

The court was informed that the Attorney General's Department was told by the Special Investigation Unit of the Sports Ministry to formulate criminal charges against the former off-spinner. So far in his career, Senanayake took part in 49 ODIs, 24 T20Is, and a Test during the period of 2012 and 2016 and has been charged for trying to fix the games of the 2020 Lanka Premier League.

Former Sri Lankan bowler Sachithra Senanayake banned from traveling overseas by a local court due to match fixing charges. pic.twitter.com/5Lr6JH9lAw

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) August 14, 2023

The former spinner scalped 53 and 25 wickets respectively in the 50-over format. He was also there with the team when Sri Lanka won the ICC Men's T20I World Cup in Bangladesh in 2014. Senanayake played his last game for Sri Lanka back in October 2016 against Australia in Colombo in a T20I  game.

During his four-year career with Sri Lanka, the former player often found himself in the middle of controversies. Back in 2014, he was handed over a ban from bowling due to an illegal action. He worked on his action again and made a comeback for the team in December of that year.

Senanayake was also named in the controversial ‘Mankading’ run out of England’s batter  Jos Buttler in the final ODI at Edgbaston when the Sri Lankan bowler removed the bails of Buttler who was standing at the non-striker’s end.