In a body blow to Sri Lanka's ODI World Cup campaign, their skipper Dasun Shanaka has been ruled out of the tournament due to injury.
Sri Lanka captain Shanaka suffered a quad injury during World Cup match against Pakistan on October 10 which they lost by six wickets. After undergoing scans it was revealed that Shanaka will miss the cricketing action for atleast three weeks hence will miss the remainder of the ongoing ODI World Cup.
However, in a like-for-like replacement Sri Lanka has decided to replace Shanaka with star all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne. This decision has been officially approved by the Event Technical Committee as of Saturday.
"The Event Technical Committee of the ICC men's cricket World Cup 2023 has approved Chamika Karunaratne as a replacement for Dasun Shanaka in the Sri Lankan squad," the ICC said.
Chamika Karunaratne is already in India and has been accompanying the team as a reserve player. He is now in contention to participate in Sri Lanka's upcoming match against Australia in Lucknow, scheduled for Monday.
Although the 27-year-old Chamika Karunaratne hasn't represented Sri Lanka since his last appearance in a T20I against New Zealand at the beginning of April, he boasts over 60 international appearances across all three formats for his country.
Kusal Mendis, the in-form batsman, holds the position of vice-captain in Sri Lanka's squad. With Shanaka's absence, it is expected that Mendis will step up and assume the responsibilities of captaincy.
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