Pradeep replaces injured Kulasekara
First Published : 23 Jul 2012, 16:02
Last Modified : 23 Jul 2012, 16:02
Mumbai, July 23: Sri Lanka have called up Nuwan Pradeep to replace his injured fellow right-arm paceman Nuwan Kulasekara in the ongoing ODI series against India. Kulasekara suffered a groin injury during the first ODI of the five-match series against India. Hosts Sri Lanka lost the match by 21 runs.
The injury was sustained when Lanka’s premier pace bowler put in a dive to take what looked like a brilliant catch at mid-off off Virender Sehwag in the 11th over of the match. Due to inconclusive evidence of whether the catch had been taken cleanly, the third umpire ruled in favour of the Indian batsman.
After the incident, Kulasekara didn’t bowl for the rest of the innings but came to bat as the last man in when the hosts had all but conceded the match to India.
Announcing Pradeep’s inclusion in the squad, Sri Lanka’s chairman of national selectors Ashantha de Mel said that the 25-year-old bowler would join the team soon after his arrival from Zimbabwe on Monday.
"He has been part of the Sri Lanka A team that took part in the one-day tri-series in Zimbabwe and having played against Pakistan in the recent test series, we thought he will be the most likely replacement," de Mel said.
