Sri Lanka are due to leave on Tuesday but captain Angelo Mathews was left with the task of knowing whether two of his key players will be with him or not probably by today.
Dananjaya is delaying his departure to be beside his wife who is expecting their first child while Chandimal is fighting to get fit after sustaining a hairline fracture on the middle finger of his right hand during the recently concluded domestic T20 league.
“Akila is not certain for the first two matches and Chandi is working with the physios and doctors and a final confirmation of his availability will be known today or tomorrow,” said Mathews.
The format of the tournament is such that Sri Lanka or any of the other five participating teams – Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Hong Kong will need to win their first round matches to have a chance of qualifying for the second stage. Failure to do so would mean an early exit from the tournament. In that context Dananjaya who has bowled Sri Lanka to victory in the recent ODI series against South Africa plays an integral part. His absence for Sri Lanka’s first two games against Bangladesh on September 15 at Dubai and Afghanistan on September 17 at Abu Dhabi will be greatly felt. Veteran off-spinner Dilruwan Perera more renowned for his bowling in the Test circuit has been included in the 16 to take Dananjaya’s place.
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER
Mathews is confident that his team has the potential and the skill to win against any side.
“Even though we have not won a series for quite some time the way we finished the South African series was a confidence booster,” said Mathews.
Sri Lanka lost the first three ODIs to South Africa but bounced back to win the next two and the one-off T20I to regain their morale in one-day cricket where they have not fared well at all in the past one and a half years or so.
“There’s no guarantee that we can win the Asia Cup but if we play to our potential we have the skills and the players to win against any side provided we do well in all three departments,” said Mathews.
Dinesh Chandimal ruled out of Asia Cup, Dickwella to replace
10th September, 2018
UPDATE ON DINESH CHANDIMAL
Dinesh Chandimal will be out of the Asia Cup 2018, after it was found that the player will need more recovery time to heal his injury in the finger, which Chandimal sustained; during a match in the concluded SLC T20 League 2018.
Wicket Keeper / Batsman Niroshan Dickwella will be replacing Chandimal in the 16 member squad.
Dickwella was in the standby list of players.
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