Hasaranga ruled out of T20 World Cup; Hemantha called up

Co-hosts Sri Lanka have suffered a significant setback with wrist-spinning all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga ruled out of the remainder of the T20 World Cup. Fellow legspinner Dushan Hemantha has been approved by the ICC's technical committee as his replacement.

Hasaranga sustained a left hamstring injury during Sri Lanka's opening match against Ireland at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. He left the field after his first over but returned to complete his four-over spell, finishing with figures of 3 for 25 in Sri Lanka's 20-run victory.

His participation for the rest of the tournament had been in doubt following that match. Hasaranga has been a pivotal figure in Sri Lanka's T20I side, leading the country's wicket-takers in the format with 154 wickets from 95 matches. He also topped the wicket charts in both the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups, with 16 and 15 wickets respectively.

Hemantha has played five ODIs and three T20Is for Sri Lanka, taking six wickets across those appearances. His most recent outing for the national team was during the tour of Zimbabwe in September, where he returned figures of 3 for 38 in the final match of a three-match series.