Dasun Shanaka ruled out of World Cup with thigh injury ahead of a must-win contest for both teams
Sri Lanka lose captain to injury for Australia clash
Sri Lanka have lost captain Dasun Shanaka for their crunch clash with Australia on Monday after the allrounder was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup due to injury.
Shanaka suffered the right thigh injury during his side's loss to Pakistan on Tuesday where he made 12 and sent down five overs for 28 as their subcontinent rivals chased down a World Cup record total of 345.
A statement from the ICC said the 32-year-old's injury needed three weeks to recover and Chamika Karunaratne had been approved by the Event Technical Committee to replace him in Sri Lanka's 15-player squad.
Both Australia and Sri Lanka remain winless after two matches and the loser of Monday's match in Lucknow could almost kiss their World Cup title hopes goodnight.
Karunaratne – a fast bowling allrounder like Shanaka – has played 23 one-day internationals for Sri Lanka and was part of their squad for the World Cup qualifiers in June-July this year but didn't play a match as the team went unbeaten in eight games to secure their spot at the main event. He played his last ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton in March this year.
The 27-year-old was last year handed a one-year suspended ban and a US$5,000 fine by Sri Lanka Cricket for behavioural breaches during the T20 World Cup in Australia.
As the sentence was suspended, Karunaratne was allowed to keep playing domestically and internationally and secured his place as a replacement for Shanaka as Sri Lanka A's leading wicket-taker (9 at 19.33) in the Asian Cricket Council men's Emerging Asia Cup tournament in July.
Sri Lanka have named vice-captain Kusal Mendis – who has started the tournament with scores of 76 and 122, as well as 158 in a warm-up match against Afghanistan – as Shanaka's replacement for the rest of the World Cup.
Australia trained under lights at Ekana Stadium on Saturday night where Marcus Stoinis, captain Pat Cummins and reserve player Tanveer Sangha were put through their paces in a fielding session with assistant coach Andre Borovec, who also spent time doing keeping drills with Josh Inglis after he replaced Alex Carey in last Thursday's 134-run loss to South Africa.
Stoinis, Cummins and Inglis were among five Australians to drop catches against the Proteas which has seen the side slip to the lowest catching percentage (57.1) of the 10 nations at the World Cup.
Cummins and senior players Steve Smith and David Warner were also involved in a long tactical discussion with head coach Andrew McDonald and consultant Andy Flower beside the pitch groundstaff were preparing for Monday's clash.
Australian allrounder Mitch Marsh said facing Sri Lanka in subcontinent conditions would be a tough task.
"We know exactly what's in front of us, we're really clear on that now," he told reporters in Lucknow on Saturday.
"It's been tough. We've been behind the game for a lot of time in the first two games but that shouldn't deter us from what we're about as a team so hopefully everyone sees that.
"A lot of Australian teams when they're backed into a corner play their best cricket. We find ourselves in a corner early on in this tournament, but we've got to come out and put on a really good performance against Sri Lanka."
Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures
October 8: Lost to India by six wickets
October 12: Lost to South Africa by 134 runs
October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT
November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT
November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa
2023 World Cup standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
IND
|
9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
SA
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.261 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
AUS
|
9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.841 | 0 | 14 |
|
4
NZ
|
9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.743 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
PAK
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.199 | 0 | 8 |
|
6
AFG
|
9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.336 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
ENG
|
9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.572 | 0 | 6 |
|
8
BAN
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.087 | 0 | 4 |
|
9
SL
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.419 | 0 | 4 |
|
10
NED
|
9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -1.825 | 0 | 4 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points