The Sri Lanka cricket team has faced yet another massive blow in this ongoing bilateral clash against India. After Nuwan Thushara and Dushmantha Chameera, two more of their star pacers are due to injury. Matheesha Pathirana and Dilshan Madushanka have been ruled out of the upcoming three-match ODI series scheduled to start on August 2 against India. Pathirana has some complaints with his shoulder and Madushanka has injured his hamstring.
Earlier, Thushara and Chameera had to be ruled out from the T20I series as well. Thushara fractured his thumb and Chameera was ill which made him unable to compete. Sri Lanka have brought in uncapped right-arm fast bowler Mohamed Shiraz and Eshan Malinga into the squad as injury back-up.
Team manager on injuries
"Matheesha has jarred his shoulder, and because it is the same issue that he had during the World Cup last year, they have chosen not to risk it," said team manager Mahinda Halangoda to ESPNcricinfo
Pathirana picked up the injury while fielding in the third T20I against India. He even left the field soon after that. He did not bowl a single delivery in that game. On the other hand, Madushanka suffered a hamstring injury while training. He only played one match in the three-match T20I series. Both Pathirana and Madushanka were going to be crucial for the SL XI and most likely members for the first ODI against India, on Friday. Sri Lanka have lost their last 10 matches across all formats against India.
India eye clean sweep in ODI series as well
Gautam Gambhir's tenure as the new Indian head coach started with the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian cricket team clean-sweeping Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20I series. Now Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be returning to action with the upcoming ODI series. This will be the first time that both of them will be returning to cricketing field since the historic triumph in the T20 World Cup 2024. They would be eyeing a similar outcome to the ODI series like the T20I one.
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