Colombo: Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews will miss the remaining fixtures of Bangladesh’s tour after being ruled out of the Twenty20 matches starting in Colombo on Tuesday.
Mathews — who returned home in January halfway through the tour of South Africa after twisting his ankle — also missed Sri Lanka’s Test and ODI matches against the visitors.
Sri Lanka’s cricket board said in a statement on Monday that Upul Tharanga would captain the side during the two-match T20 series this week, without revealing why Mathews was sidelined.
The board had expressed hope that the skipper would feature in the shorter formats of the game after he was held back from the two-Test series.
Sri Lanka drew both the Test series and the ODI matches 1-1. One of the three ODI games was abandoned due to rain.
Kusal Perera was ruled fit enough to join the squad, but will be replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Sandun Weerakkody should he be unable to play.
Bangladesh named uncapped all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin in a 16-man squad for the two Twenty20 Internationals. “We had been looking for a pace bowling all-rounder for a long time who could give our batting some depth, especially, in limited-overs cricket,” Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said.
“He is a good bat down the order and can bowl well too.” The 20-year-old Saifuddin played in last year’s Under-19 World Cup.
Bangladesh also named left-arm spinner Sanjamul Islam, pace bowler Subashis Roy and off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, who are yet to be capped in the shortest format.
Pace bowler Rubel Hossain, all-rounder Shuvagata Hom and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam have been excluded.
