Sri Lanka lose second quick ahead of India series

Rex Clementine
at Pallekele

Sri Lanka suffered a major blow ahead of the three match T-20 series against India when fast bowler Nuwan Thushara was ruled out of the three games with a fractured finger. The hosts had already lost leader of the attack Dushmantha Chameera before coming to Kandy due to illness and will head into the series against the World Champions with a depleted attack.

The first T-20 International gets underway on Saturday. The second game is on Sunday followed by the third game on Tuesday. All matches will be played at Pallekele International Stadium.

Right-arm seamer Asitha Fernando was drafted into the side in place of Chameera while left-arm fast bowler Dilshan Madushanka has been rushed to Kandy to replace Thushara.

Thushara had sustained the injury while doing fielding drills on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka had a training session at Pallekele on Thursday evening as well while India were scheduled to train later in the day with newly appointed Head Coach Gautam Gambhir set to address the media prior to training.

India are a new look side without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja, who all retired after they were crowned World Champions in Barbados having beaten South Africa in the T-20 World Cup final last month.

The tourists also have left out Jasprit Bumrah, but still their pace attack looks quite formidable on paper.

Indian selectors sprung a huge surprise by naming Suryakumar Yadav as captain of the T-20 side ahead of Hardik Pandya. The all-rounder had been understudy to Rohit Sharma and had captained India in the absence of Rohit. He was also vice-captain of the side that won the T-20 World Cup in May.

Rohit and Kohli will return to the ODI side when the teams get back to Colombo for the 50 over leg of the tour.

Tickets were selling out fast at Pallekele and a full house is expected for all three games. When Sri Lanka hosted Afghanistan in a three match ODI series in March, the matches were played in front of sell out crowds.

The Sri Lankans are going into the series with lot of momentum behind them with several players excelling in the Lanka Premier League (LPL).

Sri Lanka’s selectors recalled Avishka Fernando and Kusal Perera after overlooking them for the recent World Cup in the Caribbean and USA. Both players were in good nick during the LPL. Veteran Dinesh Chandimal is also back in the T-20 side having last played in this format in 2022.