Pathum Nissanka will not travel to Pakistan for the ODI Tri-series, involving Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and England. Nissanka was previously named in the squad but his availability was subject to fitness.
He underwent a wrist surgery in June and while he recovered from it in time for England tour last month, he picked up a hamstring injury during the series to add to his woes. Just three days out from the opening game of the tri-nation series, he hasn’t fully recovered, which forced Sri Lanka to name replacement.
Udara to replace Nissanka
In his stead, Lahiru Udara, who is yet uncapped in the ODI format, will be part of the squad. Udara, who returned to the white-ball side against England last month, three years after his debut, has played five Tests and seven T20Is for Sri Lanka. He was also part of the T20I series against Pakistan, scoring a resilent 91-run knock in the opening game.
Nissanka is also a part of Sri Lanka’s squad for Tests against Pakistan, which begin on November 9. This means he will have approximately three weeks to gain fitness and a green signal to travel to Pakistan. Udara, who was not named in the Test squad earlier, will have the ODI series to push forward his case for Test selection, in the event Nissanka remains unavailable.
The tri-series will begin on October 18 with a game between.Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, the same venue as their T20I leg of the tour. Both teams will proceed to play England at Rawalpindi as well in the following two games, before the series shifts to Lahore for the final four matches, including the final on October 31.
Each team will play the other twice before the top two on the table proceed to the final in Lahore.
Sri Lanka’s Updated squad for Pakistan ODI Tri-series:
Lahiru Udara, Avishka Fernando, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Pavan Rathnayake, Sahan Arachchige, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Dasun Shanaka, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Sachindu Colombage, Dushmantha Chameera, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka and Eshan Malinga.
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