Angelo Mathews ruled out of Nidahas Trophy 2018
What's the story?
The injury bug has bitten Sri Lanka once again as newly re-appointed white ball captain Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the Nidahas Trophy with a calf injury. The all-rounder played once after being made captain in January before sustaining a hamstring injury that cut short his tour of Bangladesh.
The 30-year-old was undergoing rehabilitation in a bid to be fit for the T20I tri-series, which will also feature India and Bangladesh but he wasn't given the green light by the Sri Lanka Cricket medical staff.
In case you didn't know...
The Sri Lankan all-rounder has been plagued by injury in the last 18 months, with most of them have been issues pertaining to his hamstring. He hurt his calf during Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa and took no part in the series against Australia and Bangladesh in 2017. While he featured in the Champions Trophy in England, another hamstring injury saw him miss the tour of UAE.
The heart of the matter
"Angelo has been putting in a lot of effort to make himself available for the Nidahas Trophy. He has worked tremendously hard to be fit after being given a strenuous programme to follow. Unfortunately, during one of the training sessions he ended up hurting his calf," a source from Sri Lanka Cricket told Cricbuzz.
Mathews was one of four players, who were told to play in the domestic T20 competition in Sri Lanka to prove their fitness. While Nuwan Pradeep, Kusal Perera and Dushmantha Chameera took part, Mathews played no part.
While Perera and Pradeep have been given a clean bill of health, Chameera will have to go through a fitness test later on Tuesday (February 27). Test captain Dinesh Chandimal, who successfully led the side to series wins in Bangladesh in ODIs and T20s in the absence of Mathews, is expected to lead the side during the tri-nation competition.
What's next?
Sri Lanka will now have to appoint a new captain when they announce the squad for the Nidahas Trophy, which gets underway on March 6 with Sri Lanka taking on India at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Author's Take
Injuries have become a far too frequent part of Mathews' schedule of late. The latest one might just force him to rethink his training methods or look at an alternative way to get in perfect shape as Sri Lanka will definitely need his services, especially in next year's World Cup.