Maheesh Theekshana to miss Sri Lanka's opening game of 2023 World Cup, confirms head coach Chris Silverwood

Sri Lankan team's head coach Chris Silverwood has confirmed that off-spinner spinner Maheesh Theekshana has been ruled out of their 2023 World Cup opening game against South Africa on Saturday in Delhi. The former England coach revealed that the youngster is still on the road to recovering from his hamstring injury and expects his availability soon.

With Wanindu Hasaranga ruled out of the entire tournament, Theekshana was to be their main spinner for Sri Lanka. However, the 23-year-old sustained a right hamstring injury during the Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 fixture against Pakistan while fielding which also saw him miss the final in Colombo, where India steamrolled them by 10 wickets.

Speaking at a presser ahead of the fixture on Saturday, Silverwood stated, as quoted by ANI news:

"No, at the moment, Theekshana is still recovering from a hamstring injury, so he won't be available for this game. But we expect him to be available very soon. The rest of them are fine."

Theekshana, who often takes the new ball in ODIs, has a promising record in the format, bagging 44 scalps in 27 matches at 23.45 with 4 four-wicket hauls.

"We know on our day we can go toe-to-toe with anybody" - Chris Silverwood

Chris Silverwood. (Image Credits: Twitter)

Silverwood went on to praise the training facilities provided to them in India and suggested they are a tough side to compete against even with the injuries. He added:

"Well, I mean, first and foremost, we're prepared to the best of our abilities. We've been treated very well since we've been here at some great facilities from a team point of view, we know on our day we can go toe-to-toe with anybody. So, we prepare in exactly the same way all the time and injuries may happen and we have to deal with them the same as any other team does but we know given the right conditions, given the right day we can go toe-to-toe with anybody. So, we will be going out there looking to win as always but we expect a very tough game tomorrow."

Sri Lanka, winners of the 1996 edition by defeating Australia in the final, haven't made it to the semi-finals of the tournament since 2011 and will look to at least break that jinx.