T20 World Cup: Fitness issues for Sri Lanka as Dushmantha Chameera ruled out of team's final round one match

Sri Lanka`s Dushmantha Chameera leaves the field after an injury during the ICC men’s Twenty20 World Cup 2022 cricket match between Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates at Kardinia Park in Geelong. Pic/AFP

Sri Lankan pacer Dushmantha Chameera is ruled out of Sri Lanka's final Group A, round one match against the Netherlands at the ICC T20 World Cup due to a calf injury.

Sri Lanka has to win this match in order to qualify for the Super 12 phase of the tournament. As per ESPNCricinfo, though he claimed a match-winning 3/15 against UAE, he failed to finish his spell due to injury. It was later confirmed by Professor Arjuna de Silva, who oversees the team's medical operations that the pacer will be missing the match against the Dutch and his participation for the rest of the tournament is also in doubt.

There are also concerns over fitness of Danushka Gunathilaka and Pramod Madushan who had to go for scans on hamstring injuries but medical team hopes that Pramod's injury is not too serious. Danusha had also missed the match against UAE.

Also Read: Sri Lanka back on track!

The loss of Madhushan and Chameera will be a big blow to Sri Lanka. Lankans dominated UAE batters and bundled them out for 73 in 18 overs. But there are concerns over batting as they collapsed from 117/3 in the 15th over to 152/8 in 20 overs.

Sri Lankan batters had also put up a bad performance against Namibia, with middle-order failing heavily. For head coach Chris Silverwood, this could be due to temperatures dipping in Geelong.

"The temperatures we are experiencing, the boys are not used to. It is certainly not Colombo. Even I am cold, a little bit. You cannot help it. The preparation and facilities we were given having arrived early, were superb. The boys have prepped the best we possibly can. We had a good camp in Kandy before we got on an airplane and came here. We have made the best of what we have had really," ESPNCricinfo quoted the coach as saying.

The bowlers put up a complete performance on Tuesday though, with Chameera and Madushan destroying the top order before spinners unleashed terror on middle and lower-order.

"I think we adjusted pretty well today. In the first game, we did not read the conditions particularly well, and we certainly did not grasp them. We are not hiding from that. That's something that we spoke about in the debrief quite honestly," said the coach.

"They have faced facts and come out today, and applied themselves much better. The track was a little bit slow. We saw that if the bowlers bang it in hard, it is very difficult to get them away. So we have to be patient, we have to build innings, and for the majority of today we did that," he added.

Opener Pathum Nissanka was SL's best performer as a batter, scoring 74 runs, more than UAE did. His innings was a measured one on a difficult surface.

"Pathum at the top of the order played a real match-winning innings. He should be very proud of himself for what he's done, helping the team get across the line," concluded the coach.

Sri Lanka are now at third place in the points table with two points and one win in two matches. UAE is at the bottom of the table with zero points, having lost both their matches.

Put to bat first by UAE, Sri Lanka posted 152/8 in their 20 overs. Opener Pathum Nissanka starred for the Lankans with a brilliant 74 off 60 balls, which consisted of six fours and two sixes. Dhananjya de Silva played a knock of 33 in 21 balls, putting up a 50-run stand for the second wicket with Nissanka.

However, Meiyappan took a hat-trick to swing the momentum in UAE's favour by reducing Lanka to 117/5. However, Sri Lanka managed to scratch their way past the 150-run mark.

Karthik Meiyappan finished with figures for 3/19. Zahoor Khan took 2/26 in four overs. Aryan and Aayan took one wicket each.

Chasing 153, UAE was never a threat to Sri Lanka. Pacer Dushmantha Chameera's (3/15) powerplay spell destroyed UAE's top order, with Muhammad Waseem (2), Aryan Lakra (1) and captain Chundangapoyil Rizwan (1) leaving early leaving UAE rattling at 3/19 in 4.2 overs.

Star spin all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga (3/8), Pramod Madhushan (1/14), Maheesh Theekshana (2/15) and skipper Dasun Shanaka also came through with some excellent bowling to bundle out UAE for just 73 runs, handing them a 79-run defeat.

Aayan Afzal Khan (19) and Junaid Siddique (18) were among the leading contributors in UAE's batting, but their scores were not enough.

Nissanka's match-winning knock earned him the 'Man of the Match' title.

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