Sri Lankan batsman Danushka Gunathilaka will be now eligible for national cricket team’s selection as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has uplifted all the bans and charges imposed on the batsman. The ban was imposed on the 32-year old cricketer after he was charged of sexual assault during his presence in Australia for T20 World Cup 2022. During that time, he featured in the clash against Namibia and got dismissed at 0. In the subsequent matches, he was ruled out due to an injury but he was present with the Sri Lankan team throughout for the World Cup.Â
What exactly did happen?Â
In November 2022, Danushka Gunathilaka got arrested after a woman accused him of sexual assault in Australia. At that time, he was present in the country for Sri Lanka‘s T20 World Cup campaign. The batter was basically charged with rape, that too for 4 counts by the woman. Later, the prosecution decided to drop the charges before trial followed by travel restrictions for 11 months on the cricketer during his presence in Australia.Â
However, Judge Sarah Huggett who was hearing this case ruled out that by seeing at all the evidence, there stands no chance that Gunathilaka had removed the condom as it was claimed that the imtercourse was continuous. Initially, Gunathilaka was accused of ‘stealthing’ without consent.
Gunathilaka’s acquittal
After all the hearing regarding this case, Danushka has finally returned to the national team following all the withdrawal of charges from the cricketer by the District Court of New South Wales, Australia. After these developments, SLC released a statement remarking “After careful evaluation of Mr. Gunathilaka’s exoneration and with due consideration to his cricketing career and an impact on the cricketing ambitions of the nation, the Inquiry Panel, headed by the retired High Court Judge, Sisira Ratnayake, Mr. Niroshana Perera, Attorney at Law, Asela Rekawa Attorney at Law, unanimously recommended an immediate lifting of his cricketing ban, allowing him to resume regular cricket activities and return to national duty.” Danushka Gunathilaka has represented Sri Lanka in 8 test matches, 47 ODIs and 46 T20Is.Â
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