Why Wanindu Hasaranga not playing today: The Sri Lankan unit has made a solitary change to its Playing XI for this match.
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During the second ODI of the ongoing Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in Pallekele, Australia captain Aaron Finch has won the toss and chose to field much like his counterpart Dasun Shanaka in the last match at the same venue.
With their ever-increasing problems due to injuries to multiple players, Australia have had to make a total of three changes to their Playing XI for this match.
Batter Travis Head, spinner Mitchell Swepson and debutant spinner Matthew Kuhnemann have been included into the Playing XI on an emergency basis in place of all-rounders Marcus Stoinis (side strain) and Ashton Agar (side strain) and fast bowler Jhye Richardson.
We’ve got a debutant!
Congratulations to Matthew Kuhnemann, who has just become the 237th player to receive an Australian ODI cap #SLvAUS pic.twitter.com/EZ59QZto1K
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 16, 2022
The development means that the visitors have preferred a two-man spin attack with a combined experience of two ODIs for this match. Test captain Pat Cummins and fast bowler Josh Hazlewood are their two specialist pacers today.
Why is Wanindu Hasaranga not playing today vs Australia?
Not spared by injury woes, Sri Lanka have also had to make a forced change to their Playing XI for the second ODI. All-rounder Wanindu Hasranga, who had suffered a groin strain after the first ODI, has been replaced by spinner Jeffrey Vandersay.
An uncertainty for this match, Hasaranga was slated to undergo a fitness test at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium this afternoon. Failing to pass the same, the Sri Lankan team management decided against forcefully playing Hasaranga on Thursday.
Hasaranga, who had scored 37 (19) with the help of six fours and picked bowling figures of 9-0-58-4 on Tuesday, will undoubtedly be missed by the hosts today. Readers must note that there’s a possibility of the 24-year old player returning for the third ODI in Colombo on Sunday.
Vandersay, 32, is playing his 30th white-ball match at the highest level with his last T20I and ODI coming against India and Zimbabwe earlier this year. In 15 ODIs in the last seven years, Vandersay has picked 20 wickets at an average of 29.25, an economy rate of 5.59 and a strike rate of 31.3.
