Kusal Perera ruled out of Champions Trophy ahead of Pakistan match
Sri Lanka and Pakistan are scheduled to play the Champions Trophy 2017 quarter-final on June 12
(Web Desk) – Sri Lankan attacking left-hand batsman Kusal Perera has been ruled out of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 due to injury ahead of the quarter-final match against Pakistan.
The 26-year-old was dismissed retire hurt after he suffered from hamstring injury during the match against India in which Sri Lanka stunned the men in blue. He will be replaced by all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva as approved by ICC s Event Technical Committee.
Silva is likely to be picked against Pakistan in quarter-final match that will decide which of the two will go into the semis. He landed in London on Saturday and played his last ODI match for Sri Lanka during last February.
With an ODI average o f 25.69 and three fifties, 25-year-old cricketer is best remembered for his Test century against Australia in the debut Colombo match after which Sri Lanka registered their series win.
Sri Lanka team manager Asanka Gurusinha stated, "We got bad news last night that his hamstring injury worse than everyone thought so Kusal is out of the tournament."
"The doctor s comment was that it s a pretty serious hamstring injury. He will most likely fly home in the next few days. With Upul suspended that s why we got Dhananjaya down pretty quickly because we needed a batsman," he added.
Earlier, Chamara Kapugedera was also ruled out because of fitness-related issues. A total of four players have been ruled out due to injuries throughout the tournament till now, including Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz who suffered from ankle injury and doctors advised him one-week rest. Rumman Raees has already been selected to replace the the left-arm bowler.
