Kusal Mendis has replaced Kusal Perera in the 15-man Sri Lankan ODI squad for the ongoing home ODI series against England.
During the second ODI of the ongoing home series, the Sri Lankan cricketer Kusal Perera suffered a quad strain. The 28-year-old left-handed batsman played a crucial 30-run knock after Sri Lanka had a poor start in a 279-run chase.
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While he suffered the hamstring injury in that game, it was initially believed that he would be recovered from that injury before completion of the ODI series. But later after the scan reports, it was revealed that Perera will need more time to recover from that injury. Now, the team hopes his return in the one-off T20I against England (October 27) after completion of the ODI series.
The 23-year-old Kusal Mendis, who has replaced Perera, last featured in the Asia Cup 2018 in UAE in last month but failed to open his account with the bat in both the group matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan respectively.
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In the first warm-up game against England on October 5, the Sri Lanka Board XI’s right-handed batsman Mendis scored 22 runs.
Since making his ODI debut in 2016, Mendis has faced a lot of in and out situations in the ODI squad. The right-handed batsman isn’t consistent to maintain his batting forms in ODI format. He has played 51 ODIs where he has scored 1,325 runs with the average of 28.19, including one century and 11 half-centuries.
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Since June 2017, Mendis hasn’t played any 50+ innings in ODI cricket while he has played 21 ODI innings. From that time, Mendis’ best ODI knock is 38 and has the batting average of just 13.35.
Sri Lankan full ODI squad for the home series against England: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Amila Aponso, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dananjaya, Niroshan Dickwella, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis, Thisara Perera, Nuwan Pradeep, Kasun Rajitha, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Lakshan Sandakan, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Upul Tharanga.
