Australia vs Sri Lanka 2019: Nuwan Pradeep Ruled Out Of Test Series

Yet another injury concern saw the lethal fast bowler of Sri Lanka make his way back to home from Australia. Nuwan Pradeep will miss the 2-match Test series with a hamstring injury. The news has been revealed out by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board via their official Twitter Panel.

He sustained a Grade 1 strain in his left hamstring while bowling during Sri Lanka‘s warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI. Pradeep tried to make his way back but unfortunately, bowled only 2 overs to undergo scans, where it suggested him to miss out the series against Australia.

Pradeep has picked 70 wickets from 28 Tests, the last of which came against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in October 2017. Workload concerns forced SLC to rest Pradeep for the limited-overs tour of India later that year. In February last year, Pradeep returned to the fold featuring in Sri Lanka’s T20 squad for a tri-series at home.

Recently, Kusal Mendis, who was fielding at the short-leg of Dilruwan Perera bowling. Perera bowled a full toss delivery to Doran, who smashed it straight into Kusal Mendis, who was under the helmet.

Mendis was successful in ducking, which is fundamental for a close-in fielder. But, unfortunately, the ball avoided all the cricketing gear and struck on the flush of Kusal Mendis, who got hurt on his Pinkie finger.

Immediately, he was seen yelling in pain while his teammates and medical staff rushed to him. During the course, the finger was seen pointing towards a wrong direction, which is indicating that there is some serious issue to make it straight. Apart from them, Angelo Mathews also missed the series due to injury.

Squad:

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis. Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk). Kusal Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera, Kasun Rajitha