Middle-order batter Dhananjaya De Silva is most likely to be dropped from the Sri Lanka playing XI for the all-important India game of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, ThePapare learns.
Reporting from Mumbai, India
Having lost to Afghanistan by 7 wickets a couple of days ago in Pune, Sri Lanka conducted a full training session on Wednesday afternoon at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the India match.
De Silva, who has played 88 ODIs, averaging 25 made scores of 11, 25, 7, 30, and 14 accumulating 87 runs in 5 innings so far in the competition. With his off-spin bowling, De Silva has not been able to pick up any wickets so far.
With Angelo Mathews set to bat at number six, instead of the number seven position that he occupied against Afghanistan, De Silva may sit out in order to accommodate the left-spinner Dunith Wellalage or leg-spinner Dushan Hemantha, with one of them could slot into the number 7 position and play the second spinners’ role.
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During the Asia Cup Super 4 clash against India, Wellalage picked up 5 wickets and scored a gritty, unbeaten 42 as well. 20-year-old Wellalage played three games so far in the World Cup and has only scored 12 runs from 3 innings. With the ball, he has picked up just 2 wickets. Hemantha, 29-year-old leg-spinner, played just one game against Netherlands in Lucknow.
Even though De Silva’s position in the team is in jeopardy, Dimuth Karunaratne, who made 15 runs off 21 balls against Afghanistan is likely to retain the position for the India game at the top of the order.
Sadeera Samarawickrama, who had a cut on his finger whilst batting during the England game, aggravated it more during the Afghanistan match, whilst fielding. As per the Team Management, Samarawickrama needed a couple of stitches and did not take part in training. However, he is most likely to be fit for the game.
