Sri Lanka’s sports minister Dullas Alahapperuma, on Wednesday in Colombo confirmed that three former Sri Lankan players are under investigation for match-fixing.

He however didn’t name the players or clarified whether they are current or former cricketers. "We are sorry to see that sports had fallen short of discipline and character," he said.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka cricket insisted that no current player is under probe by the ICC. "SLC strongly believes that what the honorable minister actually mentioned was about an investigation launched by the ICC anti-corruption unit against three former Sri Lanka players and not the current national players," an SLC statement said.

The sports minister also spoke on fast bowler Shehan Madushanka, who was detained by Sri Lanka police on drug charges for possession of heroin. Alahapperuma said, "it was sad and the country had placed high hopes on him".

At a recent meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, greats such as Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, and Sanath Jayasuriya highlighted the need to resurrect cricket at the grass-root level.

(PTI inputs)