The Sri Lankan Cricket Board on Tuesday described a media report which claimed that its players were involved in a drinking party inside team hotel during the recent T20 World Cup as “entirely false, fabricated, and baseless”. A weekend newspaper had on July 7 claimed that the Sri Lankan players had a drinking party inside the team hotel before the match against South Africa, which the islanders lost by six wickets in New York on June 3. “Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wishes to issue the following clarification regarding an inaccurate article titled ‘Drinking Party Inside Team Hotel Before South Africa Match?’ published in a weekend newspaper on July 7th and subsequently circulated on social media.

“SLC categorically and strongly refutes the contents of the article and confirms that no such incidents, as described, have occurred. Therefore, SLC states unequivocally that the news report is entirely false, fabricated, and baseless,” the SLC said in a statement.

Sri Lanka secured only one victory at the T20 World Cup, defeating the Netherlands. The islanders were eliminated in the group stage as they finished third after losing to South Africa and Bangladesh, while their game against Nepal was washout out.

“We vehemently believe that such false reporting unfairly damages the reputation of Sri Lanka Cricket, its officials, and the players,” the SLC added.

“In light of the said false allegations, Sri Lanka Cricket has requested that the respective newspaper publish a ‘Right of Reply’ to address and rectify the damage caused to Sri Lanka Cricket.”