After Dushmantha Chameera, Another Star Sri Lankan Pacer Ruled Out Of T20I Series Against India

Sri Lanka will face India in a three-match T20I series, which is set to start on Saturday (July 27). Ahead of the start of the first T20I in Pallekele, Sri Lanka suffered a major setback on Thursday (July 25) when it was revealed that star pacer Nuwan Thushara will miss the upcoming series due to a finger injury.

Sri Lanka Cricket Board took to X on Thursday to confirm the news of Thushara’s finger injury by tweeting, “Nuwan Thushara will not take part in the T20I series, as the player suffered an injury to his left thumb while fielding during practices last night. A medical report obtained shows a fracture on the player’s left thumb. Dilshan Madushanka comes into the squad as a replacement for Nuwan Thushara. #SLvIND.”

Sri Lanka team manager Mahinda Halangoda had confirmed the news to ESPNCricinfo earlier in the day by saying that Thushara has sustained an injury on the non-bowling hand. But it was severe enough for him to be ruled out. Halangoda said the injury occurred late on Wednesday, when Sri Lanka was training under lights.

Thushara is the second Sri Lankan pacer to be ruled out of the T20I series against India. On Wednesday, senior fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera was ruled out due to illness, and the Sri Lanka Cricket Board replaced him with Asitha Fernando.

It has been reported that SLC could include left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka as Thushara’s replacement for the shortest format series.

Thushara, who made his T20I debut for Sri Lanka in February 2022 against Australia in Sydney, has played in 11 matches so far, in which he has 19 wickets to his name. He played in all three Group D matches of the T20 World Cup 2024 for Sri Lanka and picked up eight wickets.

His absence will be a big setback for the Charith Asalanka-led side, which is already missing the services of many other top players due to various reasons.

India vs Sri Lanka head-to-head in T20Is

India and Sri Lanka have faced each other 29 times in T20Is so far, and on 19 occasions, India managed to secure a win.

After ending the 17-year wait for the second T20 World Cup title last month, the world No. 1 T20I team India would like to come up with a big show in Gautam Gambhir’s first series as head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team. After Rohit Sharma’s retirement from T20Is last month, Suryakumar Yadav has been appointed as India’s captain for the upcoming shortest format series.