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Lahiru Kumara has been ruled out of the World Cup after hurting his left thigh during training in Pune, where Sri Lanka play their next game of the tournament, against Afghanistan on Monday. He has been replaced in the Sri Lanka squad by Dushmantha Chameera, who becomes the third player to come in as an injury replacement for Sri Lanka since the tournament started.
Chameera was one of the key players who Sri Lanka couldn’t fit into their World Cup squad earlier because of fitness issues. He was initially out of action with a torn pectoral muscle, which he suffered ahead of the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe, and after recovering from that, he injured himself again in the Lanka Premier League in August.
But Chameera came into the touring party – along with Angelo Mathews – on October 19 as a travelling reserve, and has now moved into the main squad. Mathews had earlier replaced Matheesha Pathirana (shoulder injury), while Chamika Karunaratne had come in for regular captain Dasun Shanaka (quad injury).
While Chameera would have been an automatic pick in the Sri Lanka squad under ordinary circumstances, Sri Lanka would probably have wanted Kumara in the mix too, especially after his Player-of-the-Match performance against England on October 26. Kumara picked up three big wickets in that game – those of Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and Ben Stokes – as Sri Lanka won by eight wickets, only their second win in five games in the tournament so far.
Sri Lanka’s updated World Cup squad: Kusal Mendis (capt, wk), Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha, Angelo Mathews, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushan Hemantha, Chamika Karunaratne
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