Sri Lanka attack severely depleted due to injuries

Rex Clementine
at Pallekele

The national cricket team has been delivered several blows leading up to the Asia Cup that will get underway later this week due to a series of injuries. Chris Silverwood has been forced to field a second-string bowling attack after four leading bowlers went down with injuries.

Accordingly, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka and Lahiru Kumara will not feature in the six-nation competition.

Accordingly, Binunra Fernando, Pramod Madushan, Dushan Hemanth and Kasun Rajitha have been named as replacements. None of the four players would have been in the playing eleven if the other four had been available.

Sri Lanka might be even forced scratch the barrel as Fernando and Madushan are prone to injuries and have been rarely tested in the 50 over format over an extended period of time.

A similar scenario occurred during the T-20 World Cup last year in Australia where several players were forced to return home with injuries. The team management provided assurance on that instance to go deep into the injury woes and to ensure that it didn’t repeat. However, it has proved to be a false promise and it remains to be seen what course of action they will take to ensure that the team will be firing on all cylinders for the World Cup.

Sri Lanka’s campaign begins on Thursday with a game against Bangladesh at Pallekele and then the team will fly to Pakistan to take on Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka are in what they call the group of death as they are pitted against two strong teams while India and Pakistan can breathe easy as the third team in their group is Nepal.

Only the top two sides from each group go through to the second round.

Given Sri Lanka’s injury woes, it will be hard task for the team to qualify for the second round, but the good thing is that their batting has been in good nick.

All the four injured bowlers had done extremely well during the Lanka Premier League and Sri Lanka will feel the pinch.

Moreover, the authorities need to at least now properly examine why there are so many injuries, particularly to their quick bowlers. Chameera and Kumara were both injured during the World Cup qualifiers while Madushanka, the most expensive buy in the LPL, has also got a history of injuries.

Top order batsman Kusal Perera is also down with flu and will join the squad only after he recovers fully.

The national cricket team reached Kandy on Sunday to prepare for the tournament. Bangladesh have already arrived in the island while India will arrive this afternoon. Pakistan are expected later this week ahead of the epic clash against arch-rivals India on Saturday.