Injury sidelines Mathews for two ODIs

Sri Lanka's limited-overs captain Angelo Mathews has been sidelined with a hamstring injury for two matches in the ongoing tri-series in Bangladesh. Mathews will miss Friday's ODI against Bangladesh as well as their next match against Zimbabwe on Sunday.

Mathews suffered a right hamstring tightness when he was batting against Zimbabwe earlier in the series. Dinesh Chandimal will lead Sri Lanka in his absence. It was initially feared the injury could have ruled Mathews out for longer, possibly the entire Bangladesh tour, but subsequent scans have allayed those concerns.

Mathews has long been plagued by injuries, with calf strains the major issue over the past 18 months, though hamstring niggles have been a frequent worry throughout his career as well. The 30 year-old allrounder, who recently put down his recent injury woes to a the large number of games played in the early part of his career, is having his workload managed. He has been taken off Test-bowling duties, and his limited-overs bowling is understood to be evaluated on a game-by-game basis.

A hamstring injury had troubled Mathews recently too when he had been ruled out of action for over two weeks. He picked up that injury while bowling in a T20 against India in Indore and could not compete his quota of overs.

Mathews had recently been reappointed Sri Lanka's limited-overs captain after he had stepped down from the post in July last year.

For Sri Lanka, Mathews' latest injury comes at an inopportune moment, with the team still searching for a settled batting line-up. A promotion, meanwhile, marks a swift about turn in fortunes for Chandimal, who not so long ago was uncertain of his place in the limited-overs set-up. The move is seen as a show of faith in a player, who is rated highly by new coach Chandika Hathurusingha.