India vs Sri Lanka: Wanindu Hasaranga yet to recover from Covid-19, to miss T20I series

Sri Lankan leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has been ruled out of the three-match T20I series against India, starting February 24 in Lucknow.

Sri Lanka spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has been ruled out of the three-match T20I series against India after failing to recover from Covid-19. Hasaranga was diagnosed with Covid-19 a week ago during the Australia series and he has returned positive in the latest test too.

Hasaranga was one of the three members of the visiting Sri Lanka team in Australia to test positive following the cases of Kusal Mendis and Binura Fernando and did not feature in the last three fixtures of the five-match series, which Sri Lanka lost 1-4. He returned with figures of 3/38 and 2/33 in those games.

Hasaranga became the costliest Sri Lankan player in the history of the Indian Premier League when he was roped in by Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 10.75 crore at the IPL 2022 mega auction in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The 24-year-old all-rounder made an impression, especially with the ball, when India went to Sri Lanka in July for a limited-overs series last year, with a three-for in the second ODI and seven wickets - including a 4 for 9 - to top the bowling charts in the three T20Is. At the end of that series, Hasaranga was placed second among T20I bowlers in the ICC rankings.

Sri Lanka will be playing three T20Is against India followed by two Test matches, starting with the first T20I at Lucknow's Ekana Stadium on February 24. The next two T20I matches are scheduled to be held in Dharmshala on Feb 26 and 27 before the first Test in Mohali followed by a Day-night Test in Bengaluru.