"Maheesh Theekshana is out of the World Cup match against South Africa," Sri Lanka's coach Silverwood confirms

Due to a hamstring injury, spinner Maheesh Theekshana will not be available for Sri Lanka's World Cup opener against South Africa, according to the country's coach Chris Silverwood. Theekshana was hurt while playing against Pakistan in the Colombo Asia Cup Super 4.

"Theekshana will not be playing in this game as he is still healing from a hamstring injury. However, we anticipate having him available very shortly. Prior to the match at Feroze Shah Kotla on Saturday, Silverwood stated, "The rest of them are fine."

Because of a hamstring injury, Silverwood has allowed wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Mendis and skipper Dasun Shanaka to play in the World Cup opener against South Africa, even though Mendis and Shanaka are both suffering from minor niggles.

The Englishman declared, "The two of them are ready to go, as I said previously."

Although Matheesha Pathirana's former captain of India, MS Dhoni, had stated that the pacer shouldn't even be considered for One-Day Internationals, Silverwood thought the player had a promising potential regardless of the format.

"I'm not bothered by what MS has stated since I haven't read it. However, I will state that Pathirana is a highly promising young player with a lot to offer in 50-over cricket, and it would be unfair to deny him that chance, according to Silverwood.

This will be their first international match following India's crushing of Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final.

Silverwood asserted that the group had moved past the disaster, though.

"We are aware that we can compete with anyone on our day. As always, we'll be going there to win, but we anticipate a very difficult game tomorrow.

"We played some very good cricket together and we got there despite people not thinking we could, so actually we know we can play some good cricket," he continued, "even though everybody talks about the Asia Cup final."