Angelo Mathews to miss remainder of South Africa series

Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews has been ruled out from the final T20 international against South Africa to be played in the Newlands in Cape Town. The 31-year old Lankan skipper injured his hamstring while batting in the penultimate over of the match at Johannesburg wherein he fell over his hamstring while attempting to complete a run.

Should Mathews’ issue persist with both the hamstring and a subsequently reported ankle injury, it would mean that he would be out of the third and final T20I of the series, something that would come as a massive blow as far as the visitors are concerned. In this event, Dinesh Chandimal would take over the reins of the captaincy for the encounter between the two at Cape Town.

In the post-match presser, Mathews reckoned that he would be missing cricketing action for the next couple of weeks, meaning that he would also miss the remainder of the series. “Looks like I’ll be out for a couple of weeks. Looks really bad at the moment,” Mathews said of his injury during the post-match presentations.

Nuwan Pradeep will also be missing the following game after being struck on the hand following a strike back from South African skipper Farhaan Behardien. The duo will certainly be missed as the Lankans aim to take a win in the T20I series at the very least.

Danushka Gunathilaka, the Sri Lankan opener also sustained an injury and is expected to head back to Sri Lanka along with Nuwan Pradeep for further medical attention. This leaves the islanders seriously denuded of resources in all departments of their cricketing aspects as well. Sri Lanka plays the final T20I of the series on January 25, followed by a five-match One-Day International (ODI) series which ends on February 10.

Also read – David Warner and Usman Khawaja set to miss Chappell-Hadlee Series against Kiwis