Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood has confirmed that spinner Maheesh Theekshana is all set to miss their opening match against South Africa in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. Sri Lanka will face South Africa at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday, October 7.
ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023: Full Coverage
Speaking ahead of their match, Silverwood confirmed that Theekshana is still recovering from his hamstring injury and would be sitting out their game against South Africa. Theekshana had picked up an injury during Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup Super-4 match against Pakistan.
“Theekshana is still recovering from a hamstring injury, so he won’t be available for this game. But we expect him to be available very soon. The rest of them are fine,” said Silverwood.
He went on to say that Matheesha Pathirana is a very exciting talent, insisting that he’s got a lot of showcase in one-day cricket. Pathirana finished as the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Asian Cup 2023, claiming 11 wickets in six matches.
“Pathirana is a very exciting young talent and he’s got a lot to showcase in 50-over cricket, and it would be wrong to deprive him of that opportunity,” Silverwood added.
Silverwood said Sri Lanka can go toe-to-toe with any team in the world, adding that they got to the Asia Cup final despite people’s low expectations. Sri Lanka were blown away by India in the Asia Cup 2023 final, losing the match by 10 wickets.
“We know on our day we can go toe-to-toe with anybody. We’ll be going out there looking to win as always but we expect a very tough game tomorrow. I think although everybody talks about the final in the Asia Cup, we played some very good cricket together and we got there despite people not thinking we could, so actually we know we can play some good cricket,” said Silverwood.
Sri Lanka will be aiming to win their second World Cup title, having triumphed in 1996.
