Sri Lanka Cricket stands by Dilshan over Nupur Mehta association

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Thursday said that it will stand by its cricketer Tillakaratne Dilshan over media stories linking him to a Bollywood actress.

A story in a local newspaper, 'Daily Mirror', on Thursday claimed that the little known Bollywood actress, Nupur Mehta, whose name surfaced in match-fixing allegations, has claimed to have been dating Sri Lankan batsman Dilshan.

According to the daily, the starlet had admitted to have met some international cricketers in a casino during Twenty20 World Cup in England in 2009.

But SLC said that it condemns all the accusations made in the article of the newspaper.

"We have read with concern the recent media reports pertaining to a Sri Lankan national cricketer, T M Dilshan and regret to note that during a period, such as this, where T M Dilshan is performing to the best of his abilities, representing Sri Lanka in all formats of the game, with a Test series against England about to commence on March 26th 2012, such a story has been given wide publicity in the media," SLC statement said.

"Sri Lanka Cricket stands by T M Dilshan at this critical time and condemns the accusations/comments made in the said article," the statement further stated.

British newspaper 'The Sunday Times' in its sting operation on a bookmaker had alleged that bookies used Bollywood starlets as honey traps to lure players into match-fixing. The said starlet was later revealed to be Mehta.