Sri Lanka to asses Nissanka and Madushan injuries today

by Rex Clementine

Having qualified for the Super 12 stage of the ICC T-20 World Cup following their win over Netherlands in Geelong, the Sri Lankan cricket team reached Tasmania yesterday ahead of their first game of the second round on Sunday in Hobart. Sri Lanka’s opponents will only be known after the two Group ‘B’ qualifying rounds games end on Friday.  The former champions will conduct a training session in Hobart Saturday morning and will assess the fitness of both Pathum Nissanka (groin) and Pramod Madushan (hamstring) before deciding whether to play them.

Nissanka didn’t take the field during his team’s last qualifying round game on Thursday as he was taken for a precautionary scan. He is said to be in some discomfort and his fitness will be the focus during the training session. Madushanka too had undergone a scan after the second game on Tuesday and he seems to have got a better chance of playing the game than Nissanka.Sri Lanka’s campaign of this year’s World Cup has been plagued by injuries. Some experts had put the former champions as the dark horses of the tournament, but a series of injuries has delivered some massive blows to their campaign.

Left-arm quick Dilshan Madushanka, of whom much was expected, was ruled out on the eve of the World Cup with a torn quad muscle. There was a triple blow on Tuesday as Chameera (calf), Madushan (hamstring) and Danushka Gunathilaka (hamstring) went for scans. While Chameera and Gunathilaka were ruled out, Madushan has remained on tour.

Sri Lanka have brought in replacements as well having flown in Kasun Rajitha  and Binura Fernando for the two quicks while Ashen Bandara, who was already in Australia as a travelling reserve took up Gunathilaka’s spot.

Hobart is no strange place for Sri Lanka as they have played quite a bit of cricket here. In fact Sri Lanka were part of the very first Test match played there in 1989. Kumar Sangakkara’s stunning 192 was also scored here in 2007 and it still remains the highest individual score by an overseas player.

From Hobart, Sri Lanka will travel to Perth for their game against Australia and from there to Sydney where they will play England and New Zealand. In between the games, they will make a quick visit to Brisbane where they play Afghanistan.

The Super 12 stage of the 16 nation tournament gets underway today with Transtasman rivals Australia taking on New Zealand in Sydney while Afghanistan will play England later in the day in Perth. The big game between India and Pakistan is on Sunday at the MCG. The tickets for the epic clash were sold out within minutes of ICC putting them out for sale. A total of 100,000 fans are expected to witness one of sport’s iconic rivalries.