 S. Sreesanth has been ruled out of the Test series between India and Sri Lanka after he hurt his knee in Sri Lanka. Sreesanth becomes the second Indian
bowler to be ruled out of the series after Zaheer Khan had had an issue with his
shoulder and had pulled out of the squad even before the side landed in Sri Lanka.
The Indian squad had originally had Zaheer Khan, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth
and Ishant Sharma in it, as the three medium-pacers. However, with the pair
of Zaheer and Sreesanth injured, it is left for Abhimanyu Mithun and Ishant
to lead the attack. Munaf Patel has been named as the substitute forSreesanth,
and it could get interesting to see whether Mithun or Munaf gets a nod for ahead
for the second seam bowler's berth in the side.
Sreesanth is said to have suffered from medial collateral ligament tear on
his left knee. He had been out of the Indian team for some time before making
a comeback into the side in the home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year.
He bowled well in the Test match, but suffered from an injury again and couldn't
play against South Africa. He recovered to make it to the squad for the Sri
Lankan tour, but will now miss this as well.
It is not only the pace bowling department that the Indians will be worried
about. Their main spinner, Harbhajan Singh has suffered from a bout of
viral fever and missed out on the practice session. He will also miss out on
the tour game against the Board President's XI before his fitness will be assessed
before the first Test match between India and Sri Lanka that starts in Galle
from the 18th of July.
India also called upon two net bowlers in Jaidev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav to
assist the Indian batsmen in the nets. Both are young and became famous during
the IPL that they had been a part of. Unadkat was given a good review by Wasim Akram, whereas Yadav went on to play in the tri-series in Zimbabwe. They
will not be a part of the squad, but given the manner in which the Indian pace
bowlers are finding their way out of the squad, it will do India no harm to
have them around!
Muthiah Muralitharan will be playing his final Test match of his career at
Galle.
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