Champions Trophy 2017 | Dhananjaya de Silva replaces injured Kusal Perera in Sri Lanka squad
Dhananjaya de Silva has been confirmed as Kusal Perera’s replacement in the Sri Lanka squad for the remainder of their 2017 Champions Trophy campaign on Saturday (June 10). Perera had picked up a hamstring injury during Sri Lanka's seven-wicket win against India at The Oval on Thursday.
"We got bad news last night that his hamstring injury worse than everyone thought so Kusal is out of the tournament," Asanka Gurusinha, Sri Lanka's team manager, said. "The doctor's comment was that it's a pretty serious hamstring injury. He will most likely fly home in the next few days. With Upul Tharanga suspended that's why we got Dhananjaya down pretty quickly because we needed a batsman."
De Silva has represented Sri Lanka in 16 ODIs, scoring 334 runs. A top-order batsman and a useful off-spinner, de Silva last played an ODI against South Africa at Centurion earlier this year after coming into prominence following scoring a century in the historic Colombo Test in 2016 that sealed the first-ever series whitewash for Sri Lanka against Australia.
De Silva, though, has not played competitive cricket since March and has been used as a floater in Sri Lankan XI. With Sri Lanka unlikely to tinker their top three, De Silva may assume a middle-order spot, if gets a nod to play the game.