New Delhi, Oct 15: Sri Lanka has suffered a major blow with captain Dasun Shanaka being ruled out of the remainder of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup due to injury.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 Event Technical Committee on Saturday approved Chamika Karunaratne as the replacement for Dasun Shanaka in the Sri Lankan squad here on Saturday.
Karunaratne, who has played 23 ODIs, was named as the replacement after Shanaka was ruled out due to a right thigh muscle injury during Sri Lanka’s match against Pakistan on October 10. The injury requires three weeks to heal.
Karunaratne is already in India and traveling with the team as a reserve player and could be in contention for Sri Lanka’s next match against Australia in Lucknow on Monday.
The 27-year-old has not played for Sri Lanka since the T20I against New Zealand in early April, but he has made more than 60 appearances for his country across all three formats.
In-form batsman Kusal Mendis is the vice-captain of the Sri Lankan team and is expected to take over the captaincy in Shanaka’s absence.
The substitution of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player is officially included in the team.
