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India’s tour of Sri Lanka, 2017: Dinesh Chandimal may play in second Test, says Asanka Gurusinha

The Sri Lankan Test skipper was earlier ruled out of the first Test after he was diagnosed with pneumonia and was admitted to hospital.

Dinesh Chandimal is down with pneumonia and will miss the first Test © AFP
Sri Lanka would like Dinesh Chandimal to recover as soon as possible © AFP

Sri Lankan officials are hopeful that Dinesh Chandimal will be available for the second Test against India, which begins on August 3 at Colombo. The Sri Lankan Test skipper was earlier ruled out of the first Test after he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He was admitted in a private hospital at Colombo last night (July 20). READ: India vs Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal to miss first Test; Rangana Herath to lead

“We are working very closely with the doctors to see whether we can get Chandimal fit for the second Test. He is so crucial for us. Losing him ahead of the first Test is such a massive blow. The doctors looked at his reports and informed us that he needs to be admitted to the hospital and even we are in shock,” Sri Lanka’s Cricket Manager Asanka Gurusinha told Cricbuzz.

Ever since the viral flu had struck Sri Lanka, many of the players including Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan and Suranga Lakmal have been affected because of it. They were also down with fever during the ODI series against Zimbabwe, but managed to recover after taking sufficient rest. Chandimal was also affected by the same flu on the second day of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe and had complained of sore throat during yesterday’s practice session.

He wasn’t even available for the Sri Lanka-India series launch, which was attended by ODI skipper Upul Tharanga. Later that day, he was admitted to the hospital. It was believed that Tharanga would lead the side in absence of Chandimal, but Guransinha said that they didn’t want to burden him with too many responsibilities and that’s why chose Rangana Herath as the stand-in captain.

“We don’t want to saddle him with too many responsibilities. He is one of our main batsmen and he has been scoring lot of runs for us as well and we want to keep it that way,” Gurusinha added.

Herath has captained Sri Lanka before in four Test matches and has led them to victory in three of them.

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