Sri Lanka Cricket has suspended Danushka Gunathilaka for six international matches. While a three-match suspension has been handed to the player for breaching the board’s Player Code of Conduct and Contractual Obligation during the second Test against South Africa, the other three-match ban comes as part of a suspended sentence over a one-year period.

This is the second time in the last ten months that the 27-year-old has been on the receiving end of a disciplinary action. His reluctance towards the training sessions during Sri Lanka’s tour of India had later forced the batsman out of the squad that faced Pakistan in a three-ODI series, in the UAE.

SLC also announced that the batsman will not get his fee for the match during which the breach of contract took place.

Gunathilaka’s offence is related to an alleged sexual assault that reportedly occured in his presence. On July 22, Sandeep Jude Selliah, a friend of Gunathilaka, took two Norwegian women in the team hotel, one of whom later accused the friend of raping her. 

Although Gunathilaka has been cleared of any wrongdoing, he received the suspension for violating the team curfew.

The left-handed batsman had earlier been slapped with one demerit point and was officially reprimanded by the ICC, after giving Tamim Iqbal a send-off following his dismissal during the final match of the T20 tri-series in January this year.