Always conducted myself with integrity, says Jayasuriya after ICC charge
Colombo, Oct 16 : Sri Lankan cricket legend Sanath Jayasuriya Tuesday refused to comment on the ICC's charge of non-cooperation in an ongoing anti-corruption probe but insisted that he has always conducted himself with "integrity and transparency".
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday charged Jayasuriya for violating the anti-corruption code which deals with non-cooperation in investigations. However, he was not accused of indulging in any corrupt activity.
"...I am initially required to submit my response within 14 days. I am under strict legal advise that no comment is to be made in respect of the above charges as such a course would offend the ICC Rules," Jayasuriya said in a statement.
The 49-year-old, who served as Sri Lanka's Chairman of selectors besides being a former Parliamentarian, said he would comment further only after his response to the ICC is submitted.
"However, I am under advice to state that the above charges do not contain any allegations pertaining to match fixing, pitch fixing or any other similar corrupt activity," he said.
"I have always conducted myself with integrity and transparency with matters concerning the sport and I will continue to do so," he added.
The ICC did not specify the events that prompted its action against the celebrated cricketer, who is a World Cup winner and played 110 Tests and 445 ODIs.
However, a source in Sri lanka Cricket told PTI that Jayasuriya is in the line of fire for "trying to block" an ICC probe which began in 2015.
The investigation led to Galle curator Jayananda Warnaweera being banned for three years in 2016 for failing to cooperate with the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).
The SLC source said when approached by the ICC, Jayasuriya refused to part with some information in his phone, which was sought by the governing body for its probe.
According to ESPN Cricinfo, Sri Lanka's 2017 ODI home series against Zimbabwe, which the islanders lost, is under the ICC's scanner. Jayasuriya was into his second term as chairman of selectors at that time.
One of Sri Lanka's greatest cricketers, Jayasuriya was the player of the 1996 World Cup which is the country's first and only World Cup trophy. His Test career lasted over a decade.
He was the first player to score over 12,000 runs and capture more than 300 wickets in ODI cricket.
After signing off from international cricket, Jayasuriya also tried his hands at politics and in 2010 became an elected member of the Sri Lankan parliament, a stint which ended in 2015. He also served as a minister during the time.
In 2013, he became the selection committee's chairman for the first time. The tenure ended in 2015 after a string of failures by the Lankan team.
His second innings in the job, which began in 2015 itself, ended after the team's home series debacle against India in 2017.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
