Oman's head coach Duleep Mendis shocked by bribery claims

1/20/2016 1:30:08 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily)

Former Sri Lankan cricket star and Oman's head coach Duleep Mendis has claimed that he has been 'completely taken by surprise' by the bribery allegations that have rocked his country's cricket scene over the past couple of days.

'I am totally shocked with what I am hearing. I don't yet know whether it's true or not and what the outcome will be like but I must say that I am completely taken by surprise' Mendis told Muscat Daily on Tuesday.

In a sensational development on Monday Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) suspended the national team's fast-bowling coach Anusha Samaranayake for two months and sacked a part-time employee net bowler Gayan Vishwajith for their alleged roles in 'trying to bribe players'.

Sri Lanka's sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekera claimed last month that a man with links with a bookie had offered two members of the Sri Lankan squad around US$70000 to lose a Test against West Indies in Galle in October last year.

Mendis who is most famously known to have captained Sri Lanka to its first Test series win in 1985 has in recent years served as the Sri Lankan team's chief selector. Asked if he ever suspected wrongdoing in the national cricket scene considering the stinging charges that have flown around in recent times Mendis clarified that he's never felt that Sri Lankan players could be involved in any manner whatsoever.

'I don't quite have first-hand information about what's going on In Sri Lanka. I have only learnt about this from the news. But it's really comes as a surprise' Mendis said.

Oman team named

Oman Cricket (OC) on Tuesday announced a combined 15-member national squad for the upcoming Asia Cup T20 qualifiers and the ICC World T20.

T20 squad: Sultan Ahmed (capt) Syed Aamir Kaleem (vice-capt) Mehran Khan Aaqib Ilyas Zeeshan Maqsood Jatinder Singh Vaibhav Wategaonkar Adnan Ilyas Syed Amir Ali Ajay Lalcheta Sufyan Mehmood Rajesh Ranpura Bilal Khan Munis Ansari Zeeshan Siddiqui.

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.