'Tharanga tested positive for drugs during WC'

Sri Lanka opening batsman Upul Tharanga tested positive for an banned substance at this year's World Cup, an International Cricket Council (ICC) source told Reuters on Sunday.

"The ICC will not comment on this as per World Anti-Doping Agency regulations," an ICC spokesman said.

Tharanga, 26, has played 15 Tests and 121 One-Day Internationals for Sri Lanka and scored 12 international centuries.

Sri Lanka's Sunday Times said Tharanga had claimed he was prescribed prednisolone by an alternative medicine practitioner who had treated other cricketers in the past. Prednisolone, a corticosteroid, is on the WADA banned list.

Sri Lanka Cricket, the national governing body, could not be reached for comment.