Sri Lanka hit by Kapugedera injury ahead of India match

LONDON: Sri Lanka received a latest blow with injury of Chamara Kapugedera, ahead of their all important Champions Trophy match against India at The Oval today.

Kapugedera was ruled out of the rest of the Champions Trophy after suffering an injury in practice on Wednesday.

Kapugedera sustained what the International Cricket Council later confirmed was a knee injury on the eve of Sri Lanka’s second match in the tournament against India at the Oval on Thursday (today).

The ICC said its event technical committee had approved Danushka Gunathilaka as a replacement for Kapugedera in the Sri Lanka squad for the tournament.

Gunathilaka, a 26-year-old left-handed top-order batsman and off-spinner, has represented Sri Lanka in 19 one-day internationals in which he has scored 420 runs and taken five wickets.

His last ODI was against Bangladesh in Colombo earlier this year.

Sri Lanka seem to be among the weaker teams in Group B. South Africa have already won against their pool match against Sri Lanka with 96-run margin. India has been on top of their game, demolishing Pakistan in their opening match of the tournament. India has won 14 of the 17 ODI matches played between the two teams since 2012.

Kapugedera’s injury is the latest blow to Sri Lanka after stand-in captain Upul Tharanga, deputising for the injured Mathews, was banned for the remaining two group matches as punishment for his team’s slow over rate against South Africa last weekend.

The 30-year-old middle order batsman, who made his international debut in 2006, was dismissed for nought against the South Africans as Sri Lanka lost their Group B opener by 96 runs.