“Jeevan will be out for a minimum of two to three weeks”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Sri Lanka all-rounder Jeevan Mendis will miss the remainder of the World Cup after suffering a mild-to-moderate inner hamstring muscle injury.

Mendis sustained the injury while training with the national team on Tuesday.

The team management initially thought that Mendis would be out of action for 10 days, but it turns out that his injury is a lot more severe than expected.

As a result of Mendis’ injury, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Event Technical Committee approved Sri Lanka’s request to call up batsman Upul Tharanga.

“Upul will be arriving tonight, but Jeevan will be out for a minimum of two to three weeks,” Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said. “Jeevan will be out of the series and he’ll be going back after the next game.”

According to chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, Tharanga will bat lower down the order if he is picked to play.

“Tharanga has batted at all positions from No. 1 to 7, and has performed equally well,” he toldDaily Mirror. “That is an advantage. His vast experience is the biggest plus. We also considered the fact that he has shown good recent form in domestic cricket.”

Mathews meanwhile refused to confirm whether Tharanga would get a chance to play.

“Upul will be in contention. But between the management and the selectors, we will decide whether we want to play him or not,” he said. “We’ll look at how Upul is doing before making a call on if he will play tomorrow. There’s only about 12 hours from the time he lands, and the start of the game.”