Sachitra Senanayake, the former Sri Lanka spinner, was arrested by Sri Lanka Police on Wednesday (September 6) in relation to match-fixing charges. Senanayake surrendered to the Sports Corruption Investigation Unit, having earlier been banned from travelling overseas by a court, reported PTI.Senanayake's arrest was the first under the Prevention of Offences Relating to Sports Act which was introduced in 2019 to root out corruption in sports. The arrest relates to the 2020 edition of the Lanka Premier League where Senanayake, who didn't feature in the tournament, was accused of enticing two players to fix games.
The special investigation unit of the Sports Ministry is set to frame criminal charges against Senanayake who is set to be produced in court. Senanayake, 38, represented Sri Lanka in 49 ODIs and 24 T20Is, and played a lone Test for the country. His international career, spanning from 2012 to 2016, was riddled with problems with his bowling action, with the offspinner being banned by the ICC in 2014.Senanayake, who was part of Sri Lanka's T20 World Cup winning campaign in 2014, was also part of the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise in the IPL. He returned to international cricket in 2015 with a re-modelled action but wasn't as effective and made his last international appearance in a T20I against Australia in September 2016. Senanayake could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 100 million rupees ($309,000), if convicted under the Prevention of Offences Relating to Sports Act.
