Sri Lanka rope in Hemantha for injured Hasaranga

by Rex Clementine

Sri Lanka’s injury woes during and prior to recent big tournament is legendary like it was the case lead up to the Asia Cup. With almost all the bowlers who would have featured in the playing eleven injured, the selectors were forced to scratch the barrel and the replacements did a commendable job taking the team to the finals of the six-nation tournament.

Lead up to the sport’s showpiece event – the ICC Cricket World Cup – the team suffered another massive blow as star leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was replaced by Dushan Hemantha in the squad.

Hasaranga, who missed the Asia Cup with a grade two hamstring tear, aggravated the injury during rehabilitation and ended up with a grade three tear. Whether the bowler will undergo surgery remains to be seen.

Dushan Hemantha, a late developer, who has represented Sri Lanka three times so far had already been named as a travelling reserve and was drafted into the World Cup squad in place of Hasaranga.

The Island learns that SLC did not submit Hasaranga’s name in the initial squad of 15 which means that he can be drafted into the squad on a later day if he recovers sufficiently. However, medical experts say that there’s little chance of him becoming fit again before the World Cup is over.

Had Sri Lanka named Hasaranga in the initial squad and then pulled him out, they wouldn’t have been able to bring him back according to playing conditions.

There were lots of questions asked as to why former captain Angelo Mathews wasn’t included in the squad despite many issues remaining with the team’s batting.

The national cricket team was scheduled to fly out of Colombo last night. They will travel to Bombay and then catch a connecting flight to Guwahati. Incidentally, the flying time from Colombo to Bombay is two hours and 30 minutes but the internal flights to the eastern Indian city will take more than three hours.

Sri Lanka will play two warm-up games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh in Guwahati before travelling to Delhi to prepare for their opening game of the ten-nation tournament.

The curtain-raiser of the 13th edition of the tournament will be played in world’s largest sports ground in Ahmedabad between last edition’s finalists – New Zealand and England on the 5th of October.

Sri Lanka’s first game is on the 7th against South Africa.