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| Tillekaratne Dilshan |
Calcutta/Colombo: Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Thursday said that it will stand by its player Tillekaratne Dilshan, after Bollywood starlet Nupur Mehta told a British newspaper that she had dated the former Sri Lanka captain during the Twenty20 World Cup in 2009.
That the actress had been recently linked to match-fixing has added spice to the issue.
But SLC said that it condemns all the accusations made in the article of the newspaper.
“We have read with concern the recent media reports pertaining to Tillekaratne Dilshan. We regret to note that during a period, such as this, when Dilshan is performing to the best of his abilities… And with a Test series against England which is about to commence on March 26, such a story has been given wide publicity in the media," SLC statement said.
“Sri Lanka Cricket stands by Dilshan at this critical time and condemns the accusations/comments made in the said article," the statement further stated.
According to the daily, during T20 World Cup in England in 2009, the starlet had accompanied Dilshan to a casino, where she had admitted to meet some international cricketers.
It also reported that during the tournament she was living at the hotel with a certain businessman who could have been a bookie. However, she has vehemently denied all allegations.
Speaking to the daily, she said, “I was seeing Dilshan and went to the casino with him but that does not suggest I am involved with match-fixing in cricket.
“That is my personal life and my relationship cannot be made the basis of such a big allegation. I am a single, attractive girl and have the liberty to move around in any part of the world and interact with whoever I want to.”
She refuted having shared a room with anyone at the hotel. “I wasn’t sharing a room with anyone. I stayed at the hotel for a few days and paid my own bills. I have bills to prove my claim," Nupur said.
“All I knew is that several cricketers were living in the same hotel but I did not know who they were. There was no way for me to know even if Sachin Tendulkar was living in the room next to mine,” she claimed.
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