Sri Lanka’s Perera faces four-year doping ban

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera faces a four-year ban after the country’s sports minister said the wicketkeeper-batsman’s ‘B’ sample has also tested positive for a prohibited substance.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) provisionally suspended the 25-year-old after he failed an out-of-competition anti-doping test in October.

Sri Lanka Cricket sent back Perera from their tour of New Zealand earlier this month while also promising to provide support for the dashing left-handed batsman to get back on the field as soon as possible.

“The ICC has informed that his B sample also has been tested positive for a banned drug,” Sri Lanka sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekera told reporters on Friday.

“We are appealing against this because he was never found like this in the last four instances.

“We will back him with legal representation while doing every possible effort to help him to get out of this issue.”

The cricketer faces a maximum ban of four years according to the ICC’s anti-doing code.

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez, writing b Sudipto Ganguly, editing by Pritha Sarkar)