Staff Writers
Sri Lankan opener Danushka Gunathilaka has been ruled out of the sole T20I between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, which takes place at Eden Park in Auckland on Thursday.
Gunathilaka, who has also been left out of the Test squad for the series against Australia, suffered a back injury during the final ODI of the three-match series against New Zealand.
“Something happened to a disc in his spine while fielding and he could not move because his back became stiff,” chief selector Ashantha de Mel told the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily News.
“I was told that he had this injury before too and it kept flaring up whenever they throw themselves about on the field,” de Mel added.
Although Gunathilaka had a poor Test series against New Zealand, he contributed with 43, 71 and 31 in Sri Lanka’s 3-0 ODI series loss to the Kiwis.
The two-match Test series in Australia begins on January 24 in Brisbane.
© Island Cricket
In, out, suspended, unfit – it’s the tolerance of this sort of attitude that is taking us down. The bar should set higher or we will be crawling around hanging on to troubles like this. It’s not just him, the list goes on and starts at the top. Just look at how injury prone Anji and Chandi are? Kusal Perera is another? Don’t understand what the issue is. These are international cricketers yet consistency injury prone AND they are batters!!