Dropped catch puts Gunaratne out of Test, report says

Sri Lanka are down to 10 men for the remainder of the Galle Test after losing star middle-order batsman Asela Gunaratne to a thumb injury that required emergency surgery, reports cricket.com.au. Gunaratne missed a catch in the slips from the edge of India opener Shikhar Dhawan's bat, catching him awkwardly on the thumb and leaving the Sri Lankan writhing in pain on the turf. Dhawan was on 31 at the time when Gunaratne dropped the catch at second slip and hurt the left thumb on an already heavily-strapped left wrist.

A big blow for Sri Lanka on the opening morning of the first #SLvIND Test: https://t.co/7nZFEdMSNb pic.twitter.com/ANaSqaNQtV

— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) July 26, 2017

Medics rushed to attend to Gunaratne, and he was later driven back up to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo for surgery on the digit.

JUST IN: Asela Gunaratne has been rushed to Colombo for an operation on his left thumb. Will not play any more part in this Test #SLvIND— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) July 26, 2017

Gunaratne was player of the match in Sri Lanka's last Test, leading them to a tense final-day victory against Zimbabwe. He also played a leading role in Sri Lanka's victory in a three-match T20 series in Australia at the end of last summer.

Asela Gunaratne sustains fracture to his left thumb, in doubt for the remainder of the #SLvIND series https://t.co/AuEmstfHgI pic.twitter.com/f6exIr53Kj

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 26, 2017

While Gunaratne was en route to Colombo, Dhawan on to a century in the second session, to give India a steady start on the first day of the opening Test in Galle.