Sri Lanka's skipper Dasun Shanaka has been ruled out of the ongoing World Cup 2023 with a right thigh muscle injury that he sustained during the game against Pakistan on October 10 and has been replaced by bowling allrounder Chamika Karunaratne.
The decision to replace Dasun with Chamika was approved by the Event Technical Committee comprising Wasim Khan (ICC General Manager – Cricket & ETC Chair), Chris Tetley (ICC Head of Events), Hemang Amin (Acting CEO - BCCI), Gaurav Saxena (General Manager – Operations, BCCI), Russel Arnold (Independent Representative), and Simon Doull (Independent Representative).
Sri Lanka Cricket took to 'X' formerly Twitter to make the announcement. The development has turned out to be a major blow for the 1996 ODI World Cup champions as in the form of Shanaka they won't only lose their leader but also a match-winning allrounder.
As per Sri Lanka Cricket, Shanaka's injury will take at least three weeks to recover. Chamika who has been added to the World Cup squad has a fair amount of international experience and might come in handy for the side if he gets an opportunity in the upcoming games.
Chamika made his ODI debut versus Bangladesh in Mirpur on May 28, 2021, and his last ODI appearance came for the Lankan Lions on March 31 against New Zealand at the Seddon Park in Hamilton.
The 27-year-old has snared 24 scalps in 23 ODI games thus far at a strike rate of 28.83. He also has a good economy rate of 5.72 and has enough variations up his sleeve. Chamika is also a reliable lower order batter and has aggregated 443 runs with his highest score of 75. He averages 27.68 with the willow and has a strike rate of 80.98.
Sri Lanka will lock horns with Australia in their next game at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on October 16.
