|
Asela Gunaratne will play no further part in the India tour, after suffering a serious fracture in his left thumb. Doctors have advised Gunaratne will be out of action for at least six to eight weeks following reconstructive surgery in Colombo on Tuesday night. SLC confirmed there was no chance of a return in the ODI or T20 legs of the tour either. "It is a sad one - just below his thumb there are about three pieces of bone," SLC cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha said. "It is pretty serious. As soon as we saw the x-ray, we realised it was serious, so we sent him to Colombo." He had picked up the injury in the 14th over of the first morning. Fielding at second slip to the bowling of Lahiru Kumara, Gunaratne dived to his left to intercept an edge off Shikhar Dhawan's bat, only for the ball to hit him on the end of the thumb. The catch was dropped, and Gunaratne immediately clutched his hand in pain. Soon after, he left the ground clutching his wrist. The loss of Gunaratne is a substantial blow to Sri Lanka. Not only does his slow bowling bring balance to the side, he is also in good batting form, having hit a crucial 80 not out in a record fourth-innings chase against Zimbabwe last week. "We lost Asela as both batsman and bowler," Gurusinha said. "He is a fighter, and he has been scoring a lot of runs. Losing him is going to put lot of pressure on us." Dhawan, who was reprieved on 31 went on to hit 190 off 168 balls, setting India on track to 399 for 3 by stumps.
|
