Angelo Mathews has been approved as a replacement for injured Matheesha Pathirana in the Sri Lanka squad for the remainder of the ongoing ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023.
Mathews, who has played 221 ODIs, was named as a replacement after Pathirana failed to recover from a shoulder injury he had suffered during a warm-up match and was subsequently ruled out of the tournament.
Notably, the replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially inducted in the squad. The Event Technical Committee of the ongoing marquee tournament consists of Wasim Khan (ICC General Manager – Cricket and ETC Chair), Chris Tetley (ICC Head of Events), Hemang Amin (Acting CEO – BCCI), Gaurav Saxena (General Manager – Operations, BCCI), Russel Arnold and Simon Doull (Independent Representatives).
Significantly, it is for the second time Sri Lanka was forced to replace a player in the ongoing World Cup as earlier, skipper Dasun Shanaka was ruled out of the tournament and Chamika Karunaratne was approved as a replacement in the Sri Lanka squad.