Once off-spinner Suraj Randiv apologised to India opener Virender Sehwag for bowling a no-ball on purpose, the writing was on the wall.
The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) bigwigs suspended Randiv and withheld the match fees of the off-spinner and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who coaxed him into bowling
the no-ball, which denied Sehwag a century.
"Captain Kumar Sangakkara, too has been advised to ensure that a repetition of such incident does not occur, where disrepute will be brought to the game of cricket, affecting the spirit of the game," a SLC media release said.
SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga confirmed that the manager's report had mentioned Dilshan's involvement in the episode.
"The interim committee arrived at the conclusion based on the manager's inquiry report and also on the audio and video recordings from the broadcasters," Ranatunga told HT after the three-and-a-half hour meeting.
"Had there been no concrete evidence, we wouldn't have been able to arrive at a decision of that sort."
A Sri Lanka team source had told HT on Tuesday that it could be Dilshan and/or Mahela Jayawardene who could have influenced Randiv, although he said that Sangakkara wouldn't do such a thing.
Immediately after the meeting, Ranatunga and SLC chairman DS de Silva left for Dambulla to "have a one-on-one with all the three players concerned".
Justifying the SLC's prompt action, Ranatunga said they needed to step in to save Sri Lankan team's image. "I don't know…" Ranatunga said when asked how much beating Sri Lankan team's image had taken. "I am actually not in agreement with that. But from the game's point of view, the Board felt we needed to step in and take action."