A massive piece of confusion has unfolded in the Sri Lanka camp, surrounding the participation of Dushmantha Chameera in the two-match Test series against India. The pacer didn’t play the opening Test at the PCA Stadium in Mohali where the Lankans lost by an innings and 222 runs. It has now been learned that the […]
A massive piece of confusion has unfolded in the Sri Lanka camp, surrounding the participation of Dushmantha Chameera in the two-match Test series against India. The pacer didn’t play the opening Test at the PCA Stadium in Mohali where the Lankans lost by an innings and 222 runs. It has now been learned that the speedster won’t play the second Test as well.
If reports are to be believed, Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne was given an assurance that Chameera would be a part of the day-night Test, starting Saturday, March 12 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. But as per a journalist, Sri Lanka (SLC) wants the seamer to focus on only white-ball cricket before the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia.
Going by sources, the medical panel of SLC wants to manage the fast bowler’s workload and wants him to play only one-day and T20 cricket. Chameera has played 12 Tests thus far where he picked up 32 wickets at an average and strike rate of 41.28 and 63.1 respectively.
Karunaratne, in the meantime, stayed calm in the press conference and shared the update on Chameera. “The [Sri Lanka team] medical panel has told us that we have to manage his injury till the T20 World Cup, and that he should be used (only) for white-ball cricket,” Karunaratne said.
Confirmation from Sri Lanka that Dushmantha Chameera will not take part in second Test. The team has been advised by the medical panel to manage him and play him only in white ball cricket until the World Cup. Sense that’s the end of his Test career.
— Rex Clementine (@RexClementine) March 11, 2022
Chameera is yet to recover from an ankle injury and is also a part of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) team in the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The KL Rahul-led team picked him up in the mega auction at a base price of INR 2 crore.
Before the Day-Night Test, Sri Lanka were jolted with another blow after Pathum Nissanka was ruled out due to a back injury. Nissanka was one of the two Lankan batters to score a half-century in his team’s dismal outing in the opening Test. Dinesh Chandimal is set to replace him in the playing eleven.
The visitors may also look to include Chamika Karunaratne in the playing eleven after pacer Lahiru Kumara sustained an injury. Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test match on India. The Indian team has won both their Day-Night Tests at home thus far.
