Kusal Perera has been ruled out of the T20I series against Bangladesh with a side strain.  Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Tuesday (February 13). confirmed that Perera will now be replaced by Kusal Mendis for the brief series. 

Perera was a part of Sri Lanka's outfit during the ODI tri-series involving Zimbabwe and Bangladesh before he suffered a side strain during their second match against Zimbabwe. He scored a solid 49 in that game as Sri Lanka managed their first win of that series before going on to win the series.

Sri Lanka recently won the two-match Test series 1-0 and will look to stretch their dominance into the short T20I series before heading home for the tri-nation Nidahas Trophy that marks their 70th year of independence.

Bangladesh, on the other hand, has some injury concerns with their skipper Shakib Al Hasan which kept him out of the Dhaka Test which Sri Lanka won. Mahmudullah Riyad led Bangladesh in the Test match but ended up on the wrong side of the result. 

Earlier veteran Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath bowled Sri Lanka to a memorable win in Dhaka and in the process overtook Wasim Akram's tally of 414 Test wickets. Herath now stands at 415 Test wickets, the most by any left arm bowler. 

Sri Lanka T20I Squad

Dinesh Chandimal(c), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Dasun Shanaka, Isuru Udana, Shehan Madushanka, Jeffrey Vandersay, Akila Dananjaya, Amila Aponso, Jeevan Mendis, Asitha Fernando

Bangladesh T20I Squad 

Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Hider Rony, Abu Jayed, Ariful Haque, Mehdi Hasan, Zakir Hasan, Afif Hossain