Sri Lankan Women’s team captain injured, ruled out of WT20

Monday, 21 March 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

hamper PTI: Mohali: In a blow to the Sri Lankan Women’s team in the ongoing World T20, captain Shashikala Siriwardene has been ruled out of the cricket tournament on account of a hamstring injury just on the eve of their group match against Ireland here on Sunday.

Sri Lankan’s women team manager Vanessa de Silva said that Shashikala had suffered a hamstring tear. “It is about a 5 cm tear, and she has to undergo a surgery so, she is out of the entire World Cup and she will be going home,” she told reporters here on Sunday.

The SL team manager added, “We will also look at the options of doing it (surgery) in Mumbai.”

She informed that the team has got approval from the ICC for a replacement player and Anushka Sanjeevani will be joining the team. The SL women were comprehensively beaten by New Zealand in their opening encounter while the Irish team suffered a humiliating defeat, again at the hands of the Kiwis.

Talking to reporters on the eve of Sunday’s encounter against Ireland, the new SL team captain Chamari Athapathhu said they were not thinking about their loss in the opening game and would be hoping to get their act together in tomorrow’s encounter.

“We lost against New Zealand, they are a good team, a top ranking team. We will try our best to win the match against Ireland. There were some lapses in the batting side after 13 overs (in last game), we will try to do our best in next match,” she said.

Asked if she would feel pressure since she has been asked to shoulder team responsibility all of a sudden, the new skipper said, “I don’t have any pressure as I captained the Sri Lanka side a year ago also.”

“This is a big responsibility, it is a World cup and first time I will be captaining Sri Lanka in such a tournament. But I have captained in 12 ODIs and 10-12 T20s also.”

Commenting on Shashikala’s absence, Chamari Athapathhu said, “I know losing her at this stage is a big loss. She is an all-rounder. But we have another all rounder (Anushka), now she has a big responsibility, she has proven herself in domestic and international cricket also.”

About her team’s bowling attack, Athapathhu said “we have four spinners”.