T20 World Cup : Asitha Fernando replaces injured Binura Fernando in Sri Lanka’s squad

Sydney : Sri Lanka on Thursday announced with approval from ICCs Technical Committee that Asitha Fernando will replace an injured Binura Fernando in their Men’s T20 World Cup squad in Australia.

Asitha, who has played three T20Is, gets a call-up to Sri Lanka’s squad after Binura was ruled out due to a left hamstring injury that was sustained in Tuesday’s match against Australia in Perth, bowling only five deliveries in the match before leaving the field.

Incidentally, Binura himself came into the squad as a replacement for pacer Dilshan Madushanka, who was ruled out due to a quadriceps injury before the start of the tournament.

Asitha will travel out from Sri Lanka and join the rest of the squad ahead of Saturday’s match against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) with the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) saying on Wednesday that fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana and wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella will travel as stand-bys along with Tim McCaskill, head of the country’s high-performance centre.

Sri Lanka have been hit with a slew of injuries to both bowlers and batters in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Their pace spearhead Dushmantha Chameera was ruled out of the mega event after suffering a grade-two tear in the calf of his left foot during the first-round match against UAE on October 18.

Seamer Pramod Madushan also suffered an injury and hasn’t played since the match against UAE although he hasn’t been officially ruled out yet. They also suffered a blow in the batting department after a hamstring injury to Danushka Gunathilaka during the first round.

Ashen Bandara then was called up as Gunathilaka’s replacement, and he had to step in and play in Sri Lanka’s first Super 12 match against Ireland in place of Pathum Nissanka, who was rested due to groin injury.