Vandersay to replace injured Herath

Jeffrey Vandersay, the uncapped leg-spinner, will join the Sri Lankan side ahead of the third Test against India, starting in New Delhi on December 2, as replacement for Rangana Herath, the 39-year-old left-arm spinner.

Herath, who last month became the first left-arm spinner to take 400 Test wickets, has been ineffective on the tour thus far, picking up just one wicket in the two Tests, the first of which was drawn and the second won by India by an innings and 239 runs. He complained of back pain following the second Test, in Nagpur, and has since been ruled out of the final Test.

It may be recalled that Herath had also missed the last Test in Pallekele during India’s tour of Sri Lanka in July-August this year due to back spasms.

Herath doesn’t have the best record against India, with just 33 wickets from 11 games at an average of 48.06 and a strike-rate of 88.8. Those numbers are even more skewed in India, where he has only 12 wickets from five Tests at 54.33, a wicket coming every 97.7 deliveries.

These are in sharp contrast to his overall record of 406 wickets from 87 matches at 28.03 and a strike-rate of exactly 60 and his performance in the United Arab Emirates recently, where he picked up 16 wickets to set up Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series sweep against Pakistan.

Vandersay, the 27-year-old, has 168 first-class wickets from 36 matches at 24.87, though his last first-class appearance was for Sri Lanka A against England Lions as far back as in February this year. He has played 11 One-Day Internationals, picking up 10 wickets, and seven Twenty20 Internationals that have brought him four wickets.