Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Lasith Malinga to lead SL after Kapugedera injury

What's the story?

The Sri Lankan team has already conceded a 3-0 deficit and the ODI series to India. Adding more salt to injury, their stand-in captain Chamara Kapugedera has been ruled out of the fourth ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo after suffering a back injury during the third ODI at Pallekale.

In his absence, Lasith Malinga will captain the Sri Lankan team in the fourth ODI.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Kapugedera has been suffering from a stiff back even before the third ODI and took part (both batting and fielding) in the game despite that.

"I was talking to the physio and he hasn't been ruled out quite yet. He's being treated. Only five or six guys are training tonight, so anyway we gave him a break. We'll most probably look at it tomorrow (Wednesday) at training tomorrow afternoon. If he doesn't train tomorrow then definitely he is out. He did have the issue in Kandy, but I think when he went into bat, it got worse. We'll just have to wait further for the physio to tell us what's going on," Sri Lankan manager Asanka Gurusinha said before Kapugedera was ruled unfit.

In case you didn't know...

After losing the first ODI by nine wickets, Sri Lanka fought back in the second ODI by reducing India to 131/7 from 109/0 in a chase of 231. But, their bowlers failed to get one more wicket as MS Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took their team home with ease.

Third ODI saw Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and MS Dhoni being the architects for yet another Indian win.

Details

Kapugedera becomes the fourth Lankan player to get injured during the ongoing series.

They are already without their star pacer Dhammika Prasad, batsman Kusal Perera and lost Asela Gunaratne and Shaminda Eranga on the first day of the first and second Test respectively. Replacement batsman Dinesh Chandimal fractured his finger during the third ODI and is ruled out of the series.

Adding to this, their regular skipper Upul Tharanga has been suspended for two matches (third and fourth ODI) for slow over-rate and Kapugedera has been named as the interim skipper.

What's next?

With the series already in their bag, the Indian team will look to give chances to the fringe players and on the other hand, the hosts will look to salvage some pride by winning a match out of the next two.

The fourth and five ODI will take place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on August 31 and September 3 respectively.

Author's Take

The Indian tour to their country has been a nightmare for Sri Lanka as they were whitewashed in the Test series in just 11 days and are on the verge of getting whitewashed in the ODIs as well. Adding to this, they are dealt with few injury blows to their players.

The Lankan players will hope that the series gets over sooner than later. Lasith Malinga has already led Sri Lanka to the World T20 title in the past and the team management, along with the Lankan fans will hope that the pacer brings in a change in fortune for the team.