Sri Lanka seamer Dilshan Madushanka suffered a left hamstring injury and is ruled out of the remainder of the Bangladesh series and the initial stage of IPL 2024 for Mumbai Indians.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) released a statement, saying an MRI scan revealed the nature of the injury with the left-arm seamer returning home for rehab.
The statement further said it is a new injury, with everyone unaware of the time it will take to get healed. Madushanka will miss the third and final ODI, alongside two Tests.
“We got the report on his injury only today [Sunday], and it shows a small tear,” Sri Lanka team manager Mahinda Halangoda said.
“It’s a new injury. We’re not yet sure how long it will take for him to recover, but he’ll have to be assessed again when he goes home by the medical team at the high-performance centre. For now, we know he’s out of the ODI tomorrow for sure.”
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During the second ODI in Chattogram, where Sri Lanka won the game by three wickets, levelling the three-match series 1-1, Madushanka opened the bowling and picked two wickets up front but left the field by 6.4 overs.
MI to miss Dilshan upfront
His absence comes as a blow to the former five-time IPL winners, who picked him for a whopping INR 4.6 crore (US$554,000 approx.) at the IPL auction. Alongside him, MI also picked his national side teammate Nuwan Thushara, who recently made headlines for picking his maiden T20I hat-trick against the Tigers.
The two Sri Lankan seamers will join Jasprit Bumrah, Jason Behrendorff, Gerald Coetzee, Akash Madhwal and Arjun Tendulkar at MI. Newly-appointed captain Hardik Pandya, Romario Shepherd and Anshul Kamboj will also come in handy as seam-bowling all-rounders for the franchise.
Meanwhile, Madushanka rose to the limelight during the 2022 Asia Cup in Dubai, wherein in dismissed Virat Kohli clean bowled off a peach on zero. In his brief career thus far, the left-arm pacer has picked 41 wickets from 23 ODIs to go with 14 scalps from as many T20Is.
In his only Test against Pakistan in Colombo last year, Madushanka went wicketless in one innings.
Mumbai Indians will face Gujarat Titans in their IPL 2024 opener on Sunday (March 23) in an away clash.