Sri Lanka is yet to win any match in ongoing CWC after playing three encounters.
The Islanders recently lost the services of captain Dasun Shanaka who suffered a thigh injury and was replaced in the squad by Chamika Karunaratne. Sri Lanka are already missing ace spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, who couldn’t recover in time from his hamstring injury.
Even Dushmantha Chameera had been ruled out when the Sri Lanka World Cup squad was announced. Chameera had suffered a shoulder injury which was the reason he was not considered for the CWC 2023 squad.
On the other hand, former captain Angelo Mathews had not been in the plans of Sri Lankan selectors. He was not picked for the World Cup Qualifiers early this year and was not considered for the World Cup squad as well.
He had been frozen out of white-ball cricket since 2021 when the selectors introduced a youth-based policy. Selectors tried him out when the New Zealand tour happened in March, but with scores of 18, 0, and 12 in his three outings against the Kiwis and Afghanistan, he was dropped again.
But now, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board has added both Mathews and Chameera to the World Cup squad as backup for any contingencies and injuries that may occur going forward. They will fly to India and join the squad tomorrow.
"Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to announce that Angelo Mathews and Dushmantha Chameera will join the team in India as traveling reserves. The Sri Lanka Cricket Selectors took this decision in order to ensure that the team has ready replacements in place to face contingencies, such as an injury to an existing squad member.
Accordingly, @Angelo69Mathews, and @dushmantha05, will join the team tomorrow. Sri Lanka’s next game will be against the Netherlands, which will be played in Lucknow on October 21st," SLC posted on X.
(SLC inputs)