Jeevan Mendis ruled out of World Cup

Jeevan Mendis will play no further role in the World Cup, said captain Angelo Mathews, after the allrounder had sustained a mild-to-moderate inner hamstring muscle injury at training on Tuesday.

The team had originally hoped the injury would only keep Mendis out for about 10 days, but scans have since shown the damage to be more severe than initially estimated. Sri Lanka have flown out Upul Tharanga to take Mendis' place, and the replacement was approved by the ICC's Event Technical Committee on Wednesday.

"Upul will be arriving tonight, but Jeevan will be out for a minimum of two to three weeks," Mathews said. "Jeevan will be out of the series and he'll be going back after the next game."

Tharanga had been cut from the squad after mediocre outings in ODIs in 2014. He averaged 22.20 in five matches last year, but had been close to being named in the original 15-man squad despite this, thanks to his overall one-day record. Tharanga has 13 ODI hundreds and 5339 runs, and had opened the batting in both the 2007 and 2011 World Cup campaigns. While Mathews said Tharanga would return to the top of the order if he plays, chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said he may also be considered for a place lower down he order.

"Tharanga has batted at all positions from No. 1 to 7, and has performed equally well," he told Daily Mirror. "That is an advantage. His vast experience is the biggest plus. We also considered the fact that he has shown good recent form in domestic cricket."

Jayasuriya suggested Tharanga was unlikely to play against Bangladesh on Thursday, thanks to the time of his arrival. In any case Sri Lanka had moved Lahiru Thirimanne to the opening position, and may be wary of shifting him down the order again, at such short notice. Mathews was non-committal about Tharanga's chances of playing.

"Upul will be in contention. But between the management and the selectors, we will decide whether we want to play him or not," he said. "We'll look at how Upul is doing before making a call on if he will play tomorrow. There's only about 12 hours from the time he lands, and the start of the game."

Sri Lanka are currently fourth in Group A, after they bounced back from an opening loss against New Zealand to win a tense game against Afghanistan.