World Cup 2023
Sri Lanka announce WC squad sans Hasaranga
|| CF DESK ||
Sri Lanka announced their 15-men World Cup squad without their prime all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga on Tuesday.
Hasaranga has been ruled out of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 with an injury.
The leg-spinner sustained a thigh strain during last month's playoffs of the Lankan Premier League, where he concluded the tournament as the top run-scorer with 279 runs and the leading wicket-taker with 19 wickets. The injury subsequently ruled the spinner out of the Asia Cup.
Sri Lanka retained out-of-form skipper Dasun Shanaka as the island nation is still smarting from its ignominious defeat by India at the six-nation Asia Cup final this month in which they were all out for just 50 runs.
The thrashing on home soil prompted scathing social media attacks on the board and its players, and demands for Shanaka's sacking.
"Perhaps it's time Sri Lanka moved on from Shanaka before the country ends up being an absolute joke in the World Cup," the Daily Mirror said in a scathing editorial last week.
But after much internal debate, the board decided to stick with him and the rest of the team, a Sri Lanka Cricket source told AFP.
The board said in a Friday statement that selectors and officials "were in agreement that the national team is in the right direction towards making further progress".
It said they were "optimistic that the upcoming World Cup will bring glory to the nation".
Sri Lanka won the 1996 title and has reached the finals twice, in 2007 and 2011.
SL WC squad: Dasun Shanaka (capt), Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Pathum Nissanka, Dimuth Karunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Kasun Rajitha, Matheesha Pathirana, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka