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Sri Lanka cricket team suffered a massive blow as their star player and skipper Dasun Shanaka now stands ruled out of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. The Sri Lanka skipper sustained a right thigh injury during their loss against Pakistan at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
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With a time frame of three weeks set as recovery period from the injury, Sri Lanka Cricket opted to rule him out of the remainder of the tournament and called in Chamika Karunaratne as another seam-bowling all-rounder. Talking more about Shanaka, the 32-year-old has been leading the side across formats since late 2021, with a batting average of 20 and bowling average of 50.
Who will lead Sri Lanka in absence of Shanaka?
Well the question now comes to, who will take the charge of the side in absence of Dasun Shanaka. S ri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis has been named as the interim captain for the remainder of ODI World Cup 2023.
Notably, ahead of their match against Australia at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, Mendis shared his thoughts on his new role at the marquee tournament. “I am very happy to have the captaincy. And I hope to play in the future in the same way as I have played o far, because I don’t have anything to change. I aim to maintain this level of performance,” he said at the pre-match press conference.
Sri Lanka currently sit in the bottom half of the standings, having lost both their matches so far in the tournament. While they lost to South Africa in their tournament opener in a record-breaking match, their second loss came against Pakistan in Hyderabad.