ICC World Cup 2023: Angelo Mathews to Replace Injured Matheesha Pathirana in Sri Lanka Camp - Report

Young Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana has reportedly been ruled out of the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 due to a shoulder injury. The right-arm quick suffered a shoulder injury in the game against Pakistan in Hyderabad. He missed out on the Australia and The Netherlands games due to his rehabilitation process and was expected to return for the next fixture – versus Australia – in Bengaluru. However, the 20-year-old has failed to recover from his injury and has headed back home.

Though Sri Lanka Cricket is yet to name an official replacement for Pathirana, veteran campaigner Angelo Mathews is the front-runner for joining the Lankan squad. The latter, along with Dushmantha Chameera, arrived in India last week and joined the team in Lucknow last week.

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“The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) 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,” the official SLC statement read.

A veteran of 221 matches, Mathews has been away from Sri Lanka’s 50-over set-up for quite a while now. He played his last ODI against Afghanistan earlier this year in June in which the Lankans suffered a 6-wicket defeat. Mathews scored just 12 off 21 balls and didn’t bowl.

Mathews has 5,865 runs in 221 ODIs, at an average of 41, and has 40 half-centuries and 3 centuries to his credit. He also has 120 wickets in the format, with the best figures of 6/20.

The Lankan camp has already dealt the blow of losing their captain Dasun Shanaka. The all-rounder had sustained an injury to his right thigh during Sri Lanka’s defeat to Pakistan four days ago. On October 14, ICC in a statement confirmed that Shanaka has been ruled out for the tournament.

“The Event Technical Committee of the ICC men’s cricket World Cup 2023 has approved Chamika Karunaratne as a replacement for Dasun Shanaka in the Sri Lankan squad,” the ICC said.