Sri Lanka Cricket suspends Danushka Gunathilaka, cricketer denied bail on sex assault charges in Australia

Sri Lankan batter Danushka Gunathilaka has been suspended from all forms of cricket after the international cricketer was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a woman in Australia during the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup on Sunday.

The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed that the apex cricket board of Sri Lanka will not consider Gunathilaka for any national call-up across all formats of the game.

Stressing on its 'zero tolerance' policy for any such conduct, Sri Lanka Cricket has vowed to take the necessary steps to promptly carry out an inquiry into the alleged offense. As per the media release shared by Sri Lanka Cricket on Monday, the apex cricket board will also provide all the required support to the Australian law enforcement authorities to carry out an impartial inquiry into the incident.

Gunathilaka was denied bail by a Sydney court after the Sri Lankan cricketer was charged with sexual assault during the T20 World Cup. According to a report filed by news agency Reuters, Gunathilaka attended the court session through a video link as the bail hearing was held at the Downing Centre court in Sydney. Gunathilaka was ruled out of the T20 World Cup in the first round with a hamstring injury.

Gunathilaka was taken into custody by the Sydney police on Sunday in the wake of an alleged sexual assault incident in Rose Bay. "The woman met with the man after communicating with him for a number of days via an online dating application; it's alleged he then sexually assaulted her on the evening of Wednesday 2 November 2022. As part of ongoing investigations, a crime scene examination was undertaken by specialist police at an address in Rose Bay yesterday," the New South Wales police said in a statement. The 31-year-old has represented Sri Lanka in 8 Tests, 47 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 46 T20Is.