The Sri Lanka Skipper Dasun Shanaka was ruled out of the ICC tournament due to the injury he sustained in the match against Pakistan in the World Cup tournament on October 10.
Dasun Shanaka ruled out of World Cup
Sri Lanka played in the 8th match of the ICC World Cup 2023 against Pakistan at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium where the latter won the match with 6 wickets.
On this occasion, Sri Lanka faced another setback as Shanka sustained a right thigh muscle injury, and medical assistance advised that he needed to be rested for approximately three weeks to recover from the injury.
Shanaka made 62 runs on 68 deliveries in the match against South Africa in Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi where they chased an impossible target of 429 and eventually faced defeat in the match. It was a nail-biting match that created multiple records in the World Cups history.
On this occasion, the International Cricket Council stated that “The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 has approved Chamika Karunaratne who has played 23 ODIs as a replacement for Dasun Shanaka in the Sri Lankan Squad.”
The 27 year old has taken 24 wickets on 23 matches and has amassed a total of 443 runs with a fifty in the format.
Kusal Mendis will be leading the side in the absence of Dasun Shanaka in the remaining tournament. The replacement of a player requires the approval of the event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.
The Event Technical Committee of the (name the ICC event) consists of 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), Simon Doull (Independent Representative).
Sri Lanka has played two matches in the World Cup tournament till now and has faced defeat in those matches. Sri Lanka failed to defend 344 runs against Pakistan due to their lousy bowling performance.
They faced one of their biggest defeat against India in the finals of the Asia Cup 2023 on last month where Mohammed Siraj stormed Sri Lankan batters with his terrific bowling attack and was folded for 49 runs.
With set to face Australia on Monday in Lucknow Stadium, Dasun Shanaka’s absence could bring a significant challenge for the side and the addition of Karunaratne is aimed at bolstering their squad to improve their performance in the tournament. The match will kickstart at 02:00 PM IST on October 16 at Ekana Sports City, Lucknow.
