Former Sri Lanka pacer and coach Nuwan Zoysa on Wednesday was been banned by the ICC from all cricket for six years after being found guilty of trying to fix matches and failing to disclose corrupt approaches from a suspected Indian bookie.

The ban on Zoysa has been backdated to October 31, 2018, when he was provisionally suspended.

“In his role as a national coach, he should have acted as a role model. Instead, he became involved with a corrupter and attempted to corrupt others,” Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager, Integrity Unit said in a release.

The left-arm pacer represented Sri Lanka in 30 Tests and 95 ODIs, and also worked with the Sri Lankan side as a bowling coach and was originally charged in 2018 after his stint as bowling coach of Team Sri Lanka in a T10 tournament organised in the UAE in 2017.

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After a few interactions, the former bowler became aware that the man, referred to as Mr W in ICC documents, was involved in fixing matches and wanted the 42-year-old on board because as a coach, he knows players and can get them to fix matches.

“At (Mr W)’s request, Mr Zoysa approached (Player A) late in 2017 and asked him whether, in connection with Sri Lanka’s then upcoming series against Bangladesh and/or Zimbabwe, he would be willing to give away 12-15 runs in an over while bowling, or to get out deliberately when batting,” the ICC judgement said.

“Mr Zoysa told (Player A) that he could get good money if he under-performed in this way. (Player A) immediately refused that approach and told Mr Zoysa that he wouldn’t agree to do that,” it added.

(With PTI inputs)