Sri Lankan all-rounder Ramith Rambukwella, who has represented his nation in two T20 internationals, has been arrested on charges of drunk driving after his car was involved in an accident in the early hours of Thursday. Fortunately, no one was injured and the 25-year-old will appear in court within the next 48 hours where he is expected to get bail.
The news comes only days after the shocking report of former World No 1 Nuwan Kulasekara getting arrested after being involved in a fatal car crash on Monday. Rambukwella was at the driver's seat when his car hit a compound wall on Thursday but luckily no one was hurt in the process.
However, according to his father Keheliya Rambukwella, who is a powerful player in Sri Lankan politics being a present member of parliament in the Sri Lankan government as well as a former minister, defended his son claiming that his son had simply lost control of his car which ended up hitting a tree and not a wall as was being reported.
“There was a bachelor’s party. He was returning from it. On his way, his vehicle hit a tree,” the former Minister told Daily News Online. “There was no damage to anyone, no damage to a third-party, or to public property – his vehicle just, hit a tree.”
The off-spinning all-rounder, who averages 18.04 and strikes at 154 with the bat, and has 36 wickets and an economy rate of 6.71 in 40 T20 matches, made his debut for the national side in 2013 against New Zealand and earned a recall to the national side for the T20 series against England earlier this year after impressing in Sri Lanka Cricket’s club-based T20 tournament.
However, Rambukwella has been in the news mostly for all the wrong reasons, most notably causing panic among his fellow passengers after attempting to open the cabin door of a British Airways aircraft's cabin door at 35,000 feet while flying to England as part of the Sri Lankan A team in June 2013.
Apart from the above incident, he was also cautioned during his time with the Under-19 team and more recently was involved in a controversial night brawl incident involving Sri Lanka A cricketer Kithuruwan Vithanage earlier this year in England just weeks before he earned his recall to the national team.
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