Asia Cup 2018: Dinesh Chandimal doubtful for the tournament

Former Asia cup champions Sri Lanka have a couple of concerns ahead of their campaign in the upcoming edition of the tournament. While their prime spinner Akila Dhananjaya will miss at least two matches as he is awaiting the birth of his first child, wicket-keeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal is a doubtful starter after sustaining a hairline fracture in his finger during a domestic T20 tournament.

Sri Lanka will take on Bangladesh in the tournament opener in Dubai on September 15 while on September 17, they will meet Afghanistan. These three teams are part of the Group B of Asia Cup and two among them will proceed to the second round. India, Pakistan and a qualifying team are in Group A.

The absence of 24-year-old off-spinner Dhananjaya will be particularly worrying for the Islanders since he has been one of their main weapons in the shorter formats. He has also taken the new ball regularly for his team in the powerplay overs.

Dickwella might replace Chandimal

According to a report in ESPNcricinfo which revealed the news about Dhananjaya and Chandimal’s uncertainty, Sri Lanka will be banking on Dilruwan Perera, the other off-spinner, and veteran Lasith Malinga, who returned to the squad after a gap, to do the job for them. Angelo Mathews will be leading Sri Lanka’s quest for their sixth Asia Cup title. Only India have more titles (six) than them in the tournament that decides the best cricketing side in Asia.

Chandimal is likely to be replaced by Niroshan Dickwella who was on standby after missing out a berth in the initial squad. The left-hand wicket-keeper-batsman was dropped for the one-off home T20 against South Africa last month when Chandimal returned from a six-match ban for violating the spirit of the game in July.

Dickwella fared decently in the ODI series against the Proteas tIslandersslanders lost and his initial omission from the Asia Cup squad surprised many. The 25-year-old batsman, however, had a poor domestic T20 tournament after that series and that might have prompted the selectors to overlook him.

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