Calcutta/Gros Islet: Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal has denied charges of attempting to change the condition of the ball during the ongoing second Test against West Indies in Gros Islet. Chandimal will now attend a hearing by Match Referee Javagal Srinath after the conclusion of the Test.

"Dinesh Chandimal has pleaded not guilty to breaching Article 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct and, as such, Match Referee Javagal Srinath will hold a hearing following the conclusion of the St Lucia Test against the Windies," said an International Cricket Council (ICC) statement.

The ICC release also stated: "The officials laid the charge after television footage from the final session's play on Friday appeared to show the Sri Lanka captain taking sweets out from his left pocket and putting these in his mouth, before applying the artificial substance to the ball which the umpires viewed as an attempt to change its condition."

The video evidence will be used in the hearing which will also be attended by the match officials as well as the Sri Lankan team management. The charges had been laid by on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould, and third umpire Richard Kettleborough on Saturday.

Sri Lanka Cricket issued a media release saying it would defend any "unwarranted allegation" against any player.

"The team management has informed us that Sri Lankan players have not engaged in any wrongdoing," the release said. "SLC shall take all necessary steps to defend any player, in the event any unwarranted allegation is brought against a member of the team."

The SLC's statement came after ICC Match Referee Javagal Srinath awarded five runs to West Indies on the third morning of the Test in Gros Islet, having laid down an initial charge of altering the condition of the ball on Sri Lanka.

Play started two hours late on Saturday after the Sri Lankans, led by Chandimal, refused to take the field following a decision by umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould to charge the visitors with altering the state of the ball during the latter stages of Friday.

It appeared for some time that the day's play at least - and possibly the rest of the match - might be in doubt.

When the match eventually resumed after a two-hour delay, SLC pointed out that the players were continuing with the game "under protest".

It is understood that what raised tempers in the Sri Lanka camp was that the match officials had informed Chandimal that they were going to change the ball about 10 minutes before the start of play on Day III.

Three other players were recently charged by the ICC under the same article of the Code: Cameron Bancroft (2018), Dasun Shanaka (2017) and Faf du Plessis (2016).

In March this year, Australia were caught tampering with the ball in the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Steve Smith and David Warner were stripped of the captaincy and vice-captaincy, respectively, and banned from playing international cricket for 12 months. Bancroft was banned for nine months.

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara told Sky Sports: "I think that they feel hard done-by. I think that everyone is a bit jumpy and walking on eggshells, especially after what happened in South Africa. So maybe Gould was just being over-cautious."

"They say something, maybe, that meant the ball needed to be changed; maybe it was the shape. The Sri Lankans would have taken offence at that and would have made their case."