In a hard blow to sri lanka national cricket team, Star batsman Pathum Nissanka has been ruled out of the ODI series against the Zimbabwe national cricket team after being hospitalized due to an infection.

The Zimbabwe national cricket team is set to tour Sri Lanka for a series of limited-overs events. The series consists of a three-match ODI series and a three-match T20I series. The ODIs will be played on January 6, 8 and 11, while the T20I matches will be held on January 14, 16 and 18.

The venue for all matches is the same as the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium (RPICS) in Colombo, which will host the series.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) took to its official X account (formerly known as Twitter) to make the announcement about the 25-year-old top-order batsman.

SLC stated that Pathum Nissanka is suspected to have a dengue infection and will miss the entire ODI series against Chevrons. If his illness turns out to be dengue, he will also miss the T20I series.

“Team update: Pathum Nissanka has been admitted to hospital with suspected dengue infection. Accordingly, the player is admitted for further management and will be ruled out of the ODI series against Zimbabwe,” SLC stated in an official press release.

Shevon Daniel named Pathum Nissanka’s replacement in Sri Lanka ODI squad

SLC has named 19-year-old Shevon Daniel as Pathum Nissanka’s replacement in the squad for the ODI series against Zimbabwe.

“The cricket selectors have included Shevon Daniel in the ODI team in place of Nissanka. #SLvZIM,” SLC further stated.

🚨Team Update: Pathum Nissanka has been admitted to hospital with suspected dengue infection.

Consequently, the player is admitted for further management and will be ruled out of the ODI series against Zimbabwe.

Cricket selectors have included Shevon Daniel in the ODI squad in… pic.twitter.com/ZLAg4neKRS

– Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) January 5, 2024

Daniel is an international player as he has already played one T20I match for Sri Lanka. However, he is yet to feature in the ODI format, which could happen during the Zimbabwe series but is highly unlikely as Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis can open the innings for the team.

Although Sri Lanka’s series is against Zimbabwe, the services of Pathum Nissanka will be greatly missed as he has been a consistent performer for the team at the top of the order.

He had a great run in the year 2023 as he scored 1151 runs in ODIs with an astonishing average of 44.26 and a strike rate of 87. Furthermore, against the Chevrons he has an exceptional average of 82.33.

Sri Lanka recently underwent massive changes following their poor performance in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. There was a lot of controversy and the ICC even banned the SLC and they were stripped of hosting rights for the ICC U19 World Cup 2024. After a few days, the ICC confirmed that the Lankan Lions would be allowed to play international cricket despite the ban.

Meanwhile, Dasun Shanaka has been sacked as captain of the white-ball team and has been replaced by Kusal Mendis in ODI cricket and Wanindu Hasaranga in T20I cricket. Additionally, the board removed Dimuth Karunaratne from the Test captaincy and handed it over to Dhananjaya de Silva, who will become the 18th player from his country to lead Tests. The above-mentioned development was recently confirmed by Chief Selector Upul Tharanga.