Angelo Mathews to miss T20I's against Bangladesh and early part of IPL

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews is expected to miss the upcoming two-match T20I series against Bangladesh starting from 4th April. He will also miss the opening few games in the Indian Premier League where he will be turning up for the Delhi Daredevils. With the absence of JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock, his position in the side becomes that more important.

BBC Reporter Azam Azeem broke this news from his verified twitter account. He also added that Kusal Janith will undergo a fitness test and Monday and is expected to be fit for the 2 T20I’s on 4th and 6th April respectively. Mathews sustained a hamstring injury during the limited-overs series in South Africa in January and was forced to return back along with two other players.

.@Angelo69Mathews ruled out of T20Is, will also miss first few games of IPL, Kusal Janith will do a fitness test on Monday, likely for T20s

— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) April 1, 2017

He also missed the subsequent T20I series triumph in Australia followed by the Test and the ODI series against Bangladesh. It was a keenly contested series with both ending in a 1-1 scoreline. It has been a season marred by injuries for every team. While the absence of many top notch players from the IPL will definitely keep them in good stead for the Champions Trophy in England, it will be a disaster from the franchise’s point of view.

Especially for a team like Royal Challengers who are cited as pre-tournament favourites more often than not, to lose players like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and AB de Villiers will definitely leave a huge void to fill. Although de Villiers hasn’t been ruled out yet for the opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad but the injury might keep him out at least for the first match. In that case, it will be a big opportunity for some Indian faces to seize the opportunity in their absence.

Mathews will be representing the Delhi Daredevils in the 2017 edition, a team who has been the under-achievers of the tournament so far. Despite having big names during all these 9 years, they failed to gel as a unit and lost momentum at crucial junctures of the game. Even in the upcoming edition, not many is giving them a chance but they will surely look for a turn around and lift their maiden IPL title.