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Sri Lanka's injury toll ahead of T20 World Cup rises to three, forced to dig into reserves
Sri Lanka have brought in Kasun Rajitha and Ashen Bandara to replace Dushmantha Chameera and Danushka Gunathilaka.
Ace fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera and batter Danushka Gunathilaka have been ruled out of the T20 World Cup for Sri Lanka, thus bringing the number of injured players from the team up to three. Right-arm pacer Kasun Rajitha will replace Chameera and will be "travelling to Australia asap", Sri Lanka Cricket has said. Meanwhile, Gunathilaka will be replaced by Ashen Bandara, who was part of the travelling reserves.
Chameera, the leader of Sri Lanka's pace attack, has suffered a grade two tear in the calf of his left foot. He walked off the field wincing with pain after bowling his last over during Sri Lanka's 79-run win over the UAE on Tuesday. He had earlier been ruled out of the Asia Cup due to a calf issue as well and, according to ESPNCricinfo, the 30-year-old will be undergoing an ankle surgery.
Rajitha, who has been called up as Chameera's replacement, has played a T20I since October 2019. He had been called up for the home series against Australia but didn't play a game. Earlier, left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka had been ruled out of the tournament as well after suffering a quadriceps tear. Madushanka's injury was revealed on the eve of Sri Lanka's first match of the tournament, a stunning 55-run loss to Namibia. Binura Fernando was roped in as his replacement.
Injuries to fast bowlers seem to have become a common occurence across teams in the T20 World Cup. While India's Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out before the start of the tournament, England's Reece Topley was ruled out after standing on the boundary cushion during a fielding drill ahead of England's warm-up match against Pakistan. Tymal Mills has been announced as his replacement. Pakistan are also fretting over the fitness of their pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi, who had to sit out the Asia Cup earlier this year. Afridi, however, bowled well in Pakistan's warm-up game against Afghanistan, even sending in a vicious yorker to dismiss opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz after which the batter needed treatment on the toe where the ball had struck him.
