NEW DELHI: Fast bowler Irfan Pathan has replaced injured Vinay Kumar in India’s squad for the upcoming series of limited-overs matches in Sri Lanka, the country’s cricket board announced yesterday.
“Vinay Kumar suffered a Grade I right hamstring injury while training. He will hence not be available for the forthcoming tour of Sri Lanka,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement.
“The selection committee has named Irfan Pathan as his replacement in the Indian squad.” Left-arm paceman Pathan has so far bagged 165 wickets in 115 one-day internationals.
India will play five one-day internationals in Sri Lanka, starting in Hambantota on 21 July, plus a one-off Twenty20 match on August 7.
Indian batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar, the world’s leading scorer in both Test and one-day cricket, has already opted out of the tour.
Meanwhile, South Africa fast bowler Marchant de Lange has been forced out of the cricket tour of England by a lower back stress fracture. He’s been replaced by all rounder Albie Morkel.
De Lange didn’t get to play on tour as his back pain worsened this week, prompting a bone scan.
He will require at least six weeks of rehabilitation, team physio Brandon Jackson said in a statement yesterday.
Morkel, who played his only test in 2009 against Australia, recently played for Somerset in the English Twenty20 competition, and was to join the Proteas yesterday.
