“He will miss a minimum of four weeks”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Sri Lanka all-rounder Asela Gunaratne will miss the remainder of the Test series against India, as well as the ODI and Twenty20 series that follows.

Gunaratne, who will be out of action for at least six to eight weeks, had surgery on his left thumb on Wednesday night after he fractured it while fielding on the opening day of the first Test in Galle.

The incident occurred in the 14th over when Gunaratne dived to his left to try and take a catch at second slip. However, the ball hit him on the end of the thumb, which led to him immediately clutching his hand.

“Just below his thumb there are about three pieces of bone,” Sri Lanka cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha said. “It is pretty serious. As soon as we saw the x-ray, we realised it was serious, so we sent him to Colombo.”

Gunaratne’s absence is a huge blow for Sri Lanka as he has become a solid batsman and a handy bowler as well.

“We lost Asela as both batsman and bowler,” Gurusinha said. “He is a fighter, and he has been scoring a lot of runs. Losing him is going to put lot of pressure on us.”