Sri Lanka suffered a major blow on Saturday when their Captain Dasun Shanaka and Seamer Matheesha Pathirana were ruled out of their third game in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 against Australia, due to quadricep and shoulder injuries respectively, ThePapare learns.
Reporting from Lucknow
Sri Lanka and Australia, both having lost their first two games, will take on each other on the 16th of October (Monday) in Lucknow.
As Sri Lanka commenced their training session on Saturday afternoon, both Shanaka and Pathirana were not present. An hour later, the Team Management confirmed the two injuries.
Shanaka, who has been under pressure to fire with the bat over the past few months, struck a fifty against South Africa in a losing cause, whilst Pathirana was expensive in both his spells against South Africa and Pakistan, conceding 95/1 and 90/0 respectively.
Whether both players will be completely ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup is still uncertain.
Two seamers, Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha, are most likely to come into the playing XI on Monday.
Sri Lanka has a travelling reserve in fast-bowling all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne, who plays a role similar to that played by Dasun Shanaka.
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Kusal Mendis, who could not take the field against Pakistan in Hyderabad due to cramps, has fully recovered and will lead the side on Monday. Opening batter Kusal Perera, who had a shoulder niggle, has also been deemed fit to take on Pat Cummins’ Australia side.
