Dilshan to Miss First Test Against New Zealand

Colombo: Sri Lanka suffered a big blow with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan being ruled out of the first Test against New Zealand starting in Galle on Saturday as he is yet to recover from his back injury.

The same injury had kept the batsman out of the last two ODIs against the Kiwis also.

Dilshan's unbeaten century in the third one-dayer helped Sri Lanka take a winning lead in the five-match and rain affected series.

Sri Lankan team manager Charith Senanayake said Dimuth Karunaratne would replace Dilshan in the squad and would open the innings with Taranga Paranavithana.

The 24-year-old left handed batsman Karunaratne has earlier represented Sri Lanka in two ODIs, both during Sri Lanka's tour of England in 2011.

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No games being played at this time. 4th Test - Australia v India - December 26-30, 23:30 GMT 1st Test - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan - December 26-30, 07:30 GMT 3rd ODI - South Africa v Pakistan at Johannesburg Pakistan won by 36 runs (DLS method) 3rd ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan at Harare Afghanistan won by 8 wickets (with 139 balls remaining)

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