IPL 2018: RR's Dushmantha Chameera ruled out for three weeks

Sri Lankan pacer Dushmantha Chameera has been ruled out for at least three weeks of the IPL after suffering a back injury. He is also in doubt for Sri Lanka's tour of West Indies in June, that follows the T20 league.

Chameera, part of the Rajasthan Royals squad this year, had been acquired by the franchise, that returned to the IPL after two seasons, for a price of Rs. 50 lakh.

The 26-year-old Chameera, who made his debut for Sri Lanka in 2015 (he had been part of the Test squad to New Zealand in 2014, but did not get a game back then), was part of the squad in the recently concluded Nidahas Trophy. In the three games that he played in the tournament, he picked up three wickets.

According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, Chameera is having back issues, similar to the ones he suffered in 2016.

Graeme Labrooy, Sri Lanka's Chief Selector, was quoted as saying: "He has had some back stiffness, so we expect it to be three more weeks at least before he can return to bowling. We'll reassess after that and see where he is."

The Royals got off to a false start in the tournament, losing the first game to the Sunrisers Hyderabad. While they have the likes of seamers like Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer in their side, the latter is not match-fit yet, having suffered a side strain in the lead-up to the tournament.

Here's the entire Rajasthan squad:

Steve Smith, Benjamin Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jos Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane, Darcy Short, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ben Laughlin, Stuart Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, Anureet Singh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Mahipal Lomror.