Sri Lanka have been dealt another major as their star spinner Maheesh Theekshana will not feature in the Asia Cup 2023 final against India to be played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on 17th September. He suffered the injury while bowling during the rain-curtailed match against Pakistan.
Mahesh Theekshana bowled the allocated quota of 9 overs in the do-or-die match against Pakistan. He struggled after the injury and did a decent job by picking the wicket of Mohammad Nawaz before the rain break. The Sri Lankan spinner bowled discipline line and lengths not allowing the Pakistan batters to score runs freely. He ended with figures of 1 for 42 in his 9 overs.
“The MRI scan is showing a tear – not a big tear,” Professor Arjuna de Silva, chair of the SLC medical committee said. “Clinically Theekshana is okay though. He’s moving around and not feeling too much pain. He’ll be ready for the World Cup. Actually, if we didn’t have a World Cup coming up, we would have somehow tried to get him ready for tomorrow’s match. But we don’t want to take that risk.”
After his injury, Theekshana struggled to bowl full tosses to Ifkthitar Ahmed but was unlucky as Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka did not take a review for LBW dismissing Ahmed. Pakistan posted 252 for 7 in 42 overs thanks to a superb partnership between Ahmed and Rizwan. It was a brilliant batting effort as Kusal Mendis was the top scorer with 91 while Charith Asalanaka finished the job hitting the winning runs to win the match by 2 wickets and 0 balls to spare.
Mahesh Theekshana is the most successful bowler in ODIs for the year 2023 with 31 wickets. It is a major blow for Sri Lanka as they were without their four key players including Chameera, Hasranaga, Madhushanka, and Kumara.
Sri Lanka’s journey in Asia Cup 2023
Sri Lanka had a brilliant journey so far in Asia Cup 2023 so far. They started the tournament with 5 5-wicket win over Bangladesh and then a thrilling 2-run victory over Afghanistan in the Group Stage.
The Super 4 stage saw Sri Lanka register 21 runs victory over Bangladesh. They lost to India despite bowling out them for 213. It was a superb batting effort as they chased down 252 in 42 overs to qualify for the finals.
They have added Sehan Archagige to the squad. Sri Lanka captain Shanaka might bring Dushan Hemantha into the playing XI for tomorrow’s finals against India.
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