Sri Lankan fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana has been ruled out of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, ThePapare learns.
Reporting from Bangalore, India
Pathirana, who was nursing a shoulder injury since the Pakistan game in Hyderabad, did not take part in the two games in Lucknow against Australia and Netherlands due to his rehabilitation process.
He was expected to recover in order to be available for selection from the England game in Bangalore, which is scheduled to be played on the 26th of October. However, his recovery has not gone according to the plan of the team management, and he has thus been ruled out from the remaining five games.
Pathirana will leave India on Monday night (23rd October) to continue his rehabilitation process in Sri Lanka.
The team management did not decide on the replacement until they commenced their training in Bangalore. Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera, who is currently with the squad as a travelling reserve, is the most likely candidate to replace the 20-year-old seamer.
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Chameera, who was the cynosure of all eyes during Sri Lanka’s first training on Monday night at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, bowled two spells with great accuracy and control. He was bowling to the top order of the batting line-up – Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis – and troubled all three of them.
Experienced campaigner Angelo Mathews is also another option for the team to draft in as a replacement in order to strengthen the batting. Mathews rolled his arm and batted in the nets as well during Monday night’s training session.
Both Mathews and Chameera joined the team on the 20th of October as Travelling Reserves.
Earlier in the tournament, Sri Lanka Skipper Dasun Shanaka was ruled out of the competition due to a quadricep injury. He was replaced by all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne.
Sri Lanka’s other injury concern, spinner Maheesh Theekshana, who aggravated his previous hamstring injury during the Netherlands game, did not train on Monday in Bangalore. He underwent a MRI Scan on Sunday evening and the team management is hopeful that he will be fit to play on Thursday.
Neither Sri Lanka Cricket or International Cricket Council has officially announced the replacement for Matheesha Pathirana so far. The confirmation on Pathirana’s departure and the replacement is expected to be announced on the 24th of October.
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