India tour of Sri Lanka: Big blow, Sri Lanka’s batting mainstay Kusal Perera all set to miss ODI series vs India: Sri Lankan skipper for two series, Kusal Perera, has suffered a shoulder injury which has put his participation in the upcoming white-ball series against India at stake. India and Sri Lanka are slated to play the first ODI against each other on July 18. Apart from Perera, Binura Fernando will also be unavailable for the ODI series due to a sprained ankle.
As per the report published in DailyFT, ‘Perera, it is learnt, picked up the injury during the ODI series in England and played with it due to the unavailability of a proper replacement in the squad.’
🚨Kusal Perera will not be able to take part in the ODI and the T20I series against India owing to an injury.
🚨Binura Fernando sprained his left ankle during a practice session. Fernando will be unavailable for the ODI series.
READ: https://t.co/s0VjTKJhcN #SLvIND
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) July 16, 2021
On Friday, Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed the development in a media statement.
“Kusal Perera will not be able to take part in the ODI and the T20I series against India owing to an injury. The Wicket-Keeper Batsman suffered a right shoulder sprain during training,” the SLC said in a statement.
“Fast Bowler Binura Fernando sprained his left ankle during a practice session held yesterday (15th July, 2021). It’s a lateral ligament sprain. Fernando will be unavailable for the ODI series of the India Tour of Sri Lanka,” the statement added.
Following the injury, Perera did not even turn up for practices that Sri Lankan Team undertook on Wednesday at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium. The batsman’s progress is being closely monitored by the medical staff.
The batsman has picked up a shoulder injury and the team’s doctor has said that it would take him six to eight weeks to recover, ESPNcricinfo reported. Perera was the main choice to be the wicketkeeper after Niroshan Dickwella was suspended having breached the bio-bubble in the UK.
The onus of senior player Perera’s unavailability will fall heavily on Dhananjaya de Silva, who remains the only senior batsman in the squad.
India tour of Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka to lead as standing skipper for Sri Lanka
As per earlier reports in Sri Lankan media, Sri Lanka Cricket had already announced the appointment of a new captain- Dasun Shanaka for the series against India. According to reports in Sri Lankan media, after an embarrassing thrashing by England in the just-concluded series, Perera will be replaced by all-rounder Dasun Shanaka as the new white-ball captain of the Sri Lanka team. Further, with Perera’s injury, Shanaka’s chances of a sure-shot standing skipper have been heightened.
India tour of Sri Lanka: A look at the revised timings and new schedule
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced revised timings for the 3-match ODIs and as many T20s against India. The series which had to be postponed by five days due to COVID-19 cases in the Sri Lanka camp will now be played from July 18.
#SLvIND pic.twitter.com/LQSJT5tDmM
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) July 12, 2021
As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, both GT Niroshan Niroshan and Grant Flower have been infected with the Delta variant, which is more contagious.
Now, instead of 13th July, the 1st ODI will be played in Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium on July 18 from 3 PM while the T20 matches will start from 8 PM July 25 onwards. All the matches will be broadcast live on Sony Sports Network channels and live-streamed on SonyLIV app OTT platform.
| India’s tour of Sri Lanka, 2021 – ODI series: Timing 3 PM | |||
| S.No. | Date | Match | Venue |
| 1 | 18th July | 1st ODI | Colombo |
| 2 | 20th July | 2nd ODI | Colombo |
| 3 | 23rd July | 3rd ODI | Colombo |
| India’s tour of Sri Lanka, 2021 – T20I series: Timing 8 PM | |||
| S.No. | Date | Match | Venue |
| 1 | 25th July | 1st T20I | Colombo |
| 2 | 27th July | 2nd T20I | Colombo |
| 3 | 29th July | 3rd T20I | Colombo |
India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh
India tour of Sri Lanka – Follow all LIVE Updates on the India Tour of Sri Lanka on InsideSport.co
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