Madushanka replaces injured Chameera in Sri Lanka squad

Sri Lanka fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera has been replaced by Dilshan Madushanka in the squad for the ongoing World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. Chameera, who only took part in the warm-up games due to an injury he suffered at a training session, has been ruled out of the tournament. The 31-year-old had only just returned to the Sri Lankan set-up after tearing his calf muscle in the T20 World Cup last year. He has missed 30 of Sri Lanka's 32 matches across formats since October 2022 and is facing more time on the sidelines.

Madushanka comes on the back of his impressive form, picking up nine wickets with his left-arm pace against a visiting South Africa A side across three 50-over games and then another four in a four-day encounter, this month. Two weeks ago, he became the Lanka Premier League's most expensive signing, when he was bought by Jaffna Kings for US$ 92,000. He has played only two ODIs so far, picking up two wickets at an economy rate of 7.21. Last week, Madushanka was one of the three players added to the Sri Lanka's World Cup Qualifier squad as "standby options".

Sri Lanka are best placed among the six teams in contention for the last two spots in the 2023 World Cup in India starting October 5. They are undefeated so far, winning four out of four games. They take on Netherlands on Friday followed by Zimbabwe on July 2 and West Indies on July 7. The top two teams on the Super Six points table move on to the World Cup.