Sri Lanka’s debutant Chamira Gunasekra gets substituted in his maiden Test match after suffering blow on head

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are squaring off in the only test match being played at the R.Premdasa Stadium in Colombo. After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Afghanistan succumbed to Sri Lanka’s disciplined bowling for just 198 runs in the 1st innings.

In response, Sri Lanka amassed a massive score of 439 runs in their 1st innings courtesy of centuries from Angelo Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal. Naveen Zadran turned out to be Afghanistan’s most successful bowler who picked up 4 wickets. By Stumps on Day 3, Afghanistan made a strong comeback and is currently placed at 199 for the loss of 1 wicket.

Ibrahim Zadran showed a mettle and hit his maiden test hundred to make his team come back in the game Afghanistan is currently 42 runs behind Sri Lanka’s 1st innings total and still has 9 wickets left with them with Sri Lanka due to bat last on the wicket.

Debutant Chamika Gunasekra substituted due to a concussion

But an unfortunate incident happened on the field today during the latter part of the Sri Lankan innings when debutant Chamika Gunasekra got hit on the head off the bowling of Afghanistan pacer Naveen Zadran. It all happened when Gunasekra misjudged the bounce of a Zadran’s short-pitch delivery and copped a blow on the flush of his helmet.

Sri Lankan physio arrived at the field and carried out a concussion check which Gunasekra passed and continued batting but after a couple of overs, he was seen in discomfort as he felt the aftereffects of a concussion which is usually the case due to which he was taken out of the field and Kasun Rajitha was roped in by Sri Lanka as Chamika Gunasekra’s substitute who was further taken to the hospital.

Gunasekra came in No.8 for Sri Lanka and was batting at 16 not out when he got the blow on his head. Afghanistan faced an additional setback with Mohammad Saleem sustaining a Grade 2 left hamstring strain during the second day of the Test match. As a result, he has been excluded from the current game in Colombo.