Kulasekara out of India series

Sri Lanka will have to cope without Nuwan Kulasekara for the rest of the ODI series with India after he picked up a groin injury.

The seam bowler could only manage five overs in Saturday's game at Hambantota after a nasty fall during the 11th over when trying to catch a wayward shot by Virender Sehwag. Kulasekara returned to bat at number 11 during the Sri Lankan innings but only managed one run before being dismissed as the home side fell short in their reply to India's 314-6. After the match skipper Mahela Jayawardene confirmed the right-armed seamer would miss the next four ODI matches but didn't reveal who would be called up to replace him. "Nuwan is out of the series. He has got a groin injury. We cannot get a scan here in Hambantota. Once we get back to Colombo, we will get a scan done and see the extent of the injury and how long he will have to be out," said captain Mahela Jayawardene. "We will talk to the selectors. The A team guys probably would have arrived in Sri Lanka after the Zimbabwe tri-series. There was a selector on that tour, so we will get some advice from him as to who was in good form and try and come up with a replacement." Kanishka Alvitigala and Nuwan Pradeep are currently part of Sri Lanka A's tour of Zimbabwe but could be recalled in place of Kulasekara.