Sri Lankan cricket has been in an absolute turmoil off late. First, they lost to India 3-0 in the Test series. Then, they succumbed to the visitors in the first 2 ODIs and their regular skipper Upul Tharanga received a 2 match suspension due to slow over rate. It forced the selectors to ring in the changes and the Test captain Dinesh Chandimal was brought into the squad for the remaining 3 ODIs.
As if the misery of the losses wasn’t enough, the replacement Chandimal himself got injured. The unfortunate incident happened in the 3rd ODI when Sri Lanka were batting first after winning the toss. In the 17th over, Chandimal was facing up to India’s fast bowler Hardik Pandya.
The 3rd delivery of the over bounced awkwardly and struck the batsman on the thumb. The right-hander was immediately in discomfort. The physio of the Sri Lankan team ran out and gave him temporary treatment. Dinesh Chandimal carried on batting even with the pain.
His knock was ended by Pandya later in the 26th over. Chandimal wasn’t comfortable during his stay in the middle and could manage just 36 runs off 71 balls. He did not take the field during India’s chase and later, it was revealed that he had suffered a hairline fracture in the thumb.
“SLC confirms that Test captain Dinesh Chandimal will be out of action for the rest of the series after sustaining a hairline fracture to his right thumb. We will have a better idea of timeline of his recovery after consulting a specialist in Colombo tomorrow,” a media release from Sri Lanka Cricket stated.
Sri Lanka went on the loose the match by 6 wickets as the visitors were once again dominant and clinched the series 3-0 with 2 matches still to be played. Now, the home side would be looking to restore some proud by winning the remaining matches but given the state of the team, that seems highly unlikely.
