Galle [Sri Lanka], August 18 (ANI): Sri Lankan veteran Dinesh Chandimal was taken to hospital after injuring his shoulder and neck while diving to save a boundary during day four of the Galle Test against India on Tuesday.
Now, Chandimal, SL’s most experienced batter, will be undergoing precautionary scans. If the scans show something significant in his neck, SL could use a concussion substitute for their run-chase, with Sooriyabandara being the spare top-order batter in the squad, as per Cricinfo.
Chandimal had sprinted from deep mid-wicket to deep square leg and threw himself horizontally to intercept a shot from KL Rahul, in the fourth over of Indian innings. While he managed to save a couple of runs, he landed hard on his shoulder and tumbled legs-over-torso, with his neck and shoulder contorting under him.
After collapsing on the other side of the boundary in serious discomfort, he was attended to by his team-mates, the team physiotherapist, and the doctor. Chandimal was seen clutching his neck, head and shoulder many times. He gingerly managed to walk back to the dressing room on his own.
Pasindu Sooriyabandara came to the field as a substitute fielder.
Chandimal had earlier scored just four runs in SL’s first innings.
Despite India having built a heavy cushion of runs, Sri Lanka continued to fight back with regular wickets during the first session on day four of the Galle Test on Tuesday.
India at the end of session one was 116/4, with Rishabh Pant (21*) and Dhruv Jurel (5*) unbeaten. India leads by 294 runs.
Despite Sonal Dinusha’s maiden Test hundred on Day 3 of the first Test match, Sri Lanka could only make 284 in the first innings in response to India’s 462, and the Shubman Gill-led side took a big lead of 178 runs in Galle.
Dinusha and the wicketkeeper-batter Niroshan Dickwella added 146 runs for the sixth wicket and kept Indian bowlers at bay, but the seamer Prasidh Krishna dismissed Dickwella for 80 runs in the 62nd over. Sonal stuck around to get a ton, but Suthar (4/76) and Jadeja (3/57) denied Sri Lanka a chance to score bigger. (ANI)
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