Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has denied a media report which claimed cricketer Chamika Karunaratne broke team protocols to attend a party during ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup currently underway in Colombo.

Full statement:

Sri Lanka Cricket Statement pertaining to a fabricated story published by Hiru TV mentioning that a Sri Lanka ‘A’ team player taking part in the ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup has broken team protocols to attend a party

A news item published on July 16, 2023, on Hiru TV citing that a Sri Lanka ‘A’ team player taking part in the ‘ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup’ has broken the team protocols to attend a party is totally false, fabricated, and malicious.

We wish to state that the said player attended the birthday party of one of his friends on the 15th of July evening as a matter of courtesy, following an invitation made to him.

Prior to attending the Birthday Party, the said player informed the team manager of the invitation and obtained approval to attend the function.

Following attending the party, the player duly arrived at the hotel before the curfew time, which was the time specified by the team management for the players and team officials to be back in their hotel room.

Hence, SLC strongly urges Hiru TV to take appropriate steps to rectify this false report, which has been published without any knowledge of the team curfew times set by the management and without independently verifying the facts with SLC.

SLC is of the view that a due correction will help save the reputation of the team and its players and keep them focused on the game, as they are in the midst of an important international cricket tournament