IND vs SL: Mendis Ruled Out Of 1st Test Due To Injury, Chameera Rested; Confirms Captain Karunaratne

India vs Sri Lanka: Wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis out of 1st Test due to injury, Dickwella to keep the wickets while pacer Dushmantha Chameera has been rested, confirms Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne.

India vs Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne on March 3rd (Thursday) confirmed that the Sri Lankan wicketkeeper, Kusal Mendis, will not feature in the first test due to an injury, and right-arm pacer Dushmantha Chameera will be rested for the match.

'Dickwella will be the wicketkeeper, Dushmantha Chameera will be rested and will be available for the pink-ball Test and Mendis has been ruled out' said Karunaratne a day before the commencement of the first test between India and Sri Lanka at Mohali. 

Kusal Mendis has been constantly troubled with his hamstring issues and this is the reason yet again for his absence from the first test. The 27-year old has represented Sri Lanka in 47 matches and has registered 3,022 runs with an average of 34.72, including 7 centuries and 11 half-centuries with the best score of 196. Apart from this, Mendis has taken 71 catches in his test career. 

Niroshan Dickwella will make his return to the playing XI. The 28-year old keeper batter played his last match for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh in April 2021, where he scored 77* in his last inning. Dickwella has played 45 matches for Sri Lanka and has registered 2,443 at an average of 32.57 along with 112 catches & 23 stumpings as a keeper. 

On the other hand, Sri Lankan left-arm pacer Dushmantha Chameera has been rested for the first test after playing the three T20Is back-to-back against India. Chameera picked up only two wickets in the 3-match T20I series, but both of the dismissals were of Indian opener and captain Rohit Sharma, and both the time left-arm pacer got the right-handed batter in his first over. The 30-year old right-arm fast-medium Lankan bowler has played 12 tests for Sri Lanka in which he has managed 32 wickets with a 5-wicket haul to his name. 

India is set to take on Sri Lanka in the 2-match test series starting March 4th (Friday) at Mohali. India whitewashed West Indies in ODIs & T20Is followed by another whitewash against Sri Lanka in T20Is under new captain Rohit Sharma. This will be the first test for Rohit Sharma as regular test skipper of India while this test will also mark the 100th test match for former captain, Virat Kohli.