Theekshana ruled out of Asia Cup final

Spinner Maheesh Theekshana, who strained his right hamstring during Sri Lanka's Super 4 match against Pakistan on Thursday, has been ruled out of the finals.

A scan revealed Theekshana had suffered the muscle injury and will return to the High Performance Centre to begin rehabilitation work.

All rounder Sahan Arachchige has been brought into the squad in place of Theekshana. "The team management would have taken the risk of playing him on Sunday but the World Cup is round the corner and it is advisable to rest him. We want him to be fit before the World Cup", Prof Arjuna de Silva, Chairman of the medical panel at Sri Lanka Cricket said.

Explaining the possible reasons for his injury, the Professor explained, "he has been playing continuous cricket. He was part of the IPL (Indian Premier League), then LPL (Lanka Premier League), before that he played home matches against Afghanistan and the qualifying matches in Zimbabwe also. He was part of the T-20i squad on the New Zealand tour (in April this year)".

Theeksana has so far captured 83 wickets in three formats of the game.

On Saturday morning, all 17-members went for the last practice game (before the Asia Cup final) at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

According to Prof. de Silva, the injured players who are not part of the ongoing Asia Cup, are coming into shape.

"They have started their training", he said.

(Shehan Daniel and Bipin Dani)