Sri Lanka Vs India 2017: Hamstring Injury Rules Nuwan Pradeep Out Of The Series

Sri Lanka’s injury woes have been further compounded with their in-form fast-bowler Nuwan Pradeep being ruled out of the ongoing series against India with a hamstring injury. The right-arm pacer, who had taken six wickets in the first innings of the series-opener at Galle, managed to bowl only 17.4 overs on the opening day of the ongoing second Test before leaving the field complaining about a hamstring niggle and did not return to bowl on the second day.

Sri Lanka opener Dimuth Karunaratne confirmed that the pacer would be out of action for 1-2 months.

“Nuwan Pradeep’s out for one or two months,” Karunaratne said at the press-conference after the second-day’s play on Friday (August 4).

Sri Lanka have already suffered several injury blows in the series. Their skipper Dinesh Chandimal missed the first Test due to pneumonia while Asela Gunaratne has been ruled out of the entire series after breaking his thumb during Galle Test. Even Rangana Herath had injury concerns in the first Test when he suffered a finger injury and could not come to bat in the second innings but was eventually declared fit for the Colombo Test.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s gamble of playing with a single pacer now looks set to backfire as they have no option but to resort to the spinners. With Pradeep ruled out and Angelo Mathews not fit to bowl, Sri Lanka will also have to rely on part-timers like Karunaratne who bowled eight overs in the first innings.

“I started my career as a bowler, not as a batsman, so I can bowl. The thing is there are a lot of bowlers who can bowl faster than 130-135,” the opener said.

“We played only with one pace option, so when they asked me if we need to bowl a few overs with the new ball, I said I could. That’s why I bowled a few overs with Chaminda Vaas to see how it goes,” added Karunaratne who dismissed centurion Cheteshwar Pujara early on day 2.

India, meanwhile, have taken a commanding position in the match. After amassing a mammoth 622 for 9 (declared), the visitors have reduced the hosts to 50 for 2 with Ravichandran Ashwin sending back both the spinners cheaply.