Dickwella out in blow to Sri Lanka

Bangladesh

Sri Lanka have suffered an injury blow as Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella has been ruled out of the series against Bangladesh with a hairline fracture to his left hand.

The dynamic opener and keeper suffered the injury in training on Sunday with x-rays revealing a fracture after he had troublegripping his bat on Monday.

Dickwella, who missed the first ODI of the series through suspension after he was sanctioned for dissent during the T20I series in Australia, will likely miss the Twenty20 series that follows the ODIs.

Sri Lanka have opted not to call in another batsman but have added Nuwan Kulasekara and Nuwan Pradeep to the seam department while spin-bowling allrounder Dilruwan Perera has also been brought in.

Dickwella hit two fifties towards the tail end of the series in South Africa and was an integral part of Sri Lanka’s dual T20 triumphs on their travels earlier this season.

The innovative left-hander has made a bright start to his ODI career scoring 380 runs in 10 innings and was beginning to forge a promising partnership with Upul Tharanga at the top of the order.

The addition of Kulasekara to the line-up adds some much needed experience to a bowling attack that got spanked in the first game by a battle-hardened Bangladesh outfit.

Sri Lanka are BetBright’s market favourites to win the series.

 

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