As Sri Lanka marched towards victory in the second Test against South Africa, batsman Danushka Gunathilaka was subsequently suspended from all forms of international cricket pending an inquiry by the country’s cricketing board.
The development came late on Sunday night following the third day’s play in Colombo.
“The decision to suspend the player was taken following an initial inquiry conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket, after the team management reported that the player had violated the ‘Code of Conduct’,” a statement from Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said.
No further details were added by the governing body about the nature of Gunathilaka’s violation.
The 27-year-old batsman’s suspension came into effect immediately following the conclusion of the Colombo Test. The opener cracked half-centuries in each innings of the second match against the Proteas.
Gunathilaka registered two half-centuries in the ongoing Test.
The left-hander is no stranger to controversy and has had several disciplinary issues in the past. He was officially reprimanded by the ICC in January this year after breaching Level 1 of the Code of Conduct during a T20 against Bangladesh.
In 2017, the batsman was suspended for six white-ball matches during India’s tour of Sri Lanka for displaying poor conduct in training. The suspension was later reduced to three matches and Gunathilaka was subsequently ignored for Sri Lanka’s ODI clashes with Pakistan.
In the second and final clash at Colombo, Sri Lanka registered a 199-run win to complete a 2-0 series clean sweep against the No.2 ranked South Africans.