Thushara to replace Muralitharan

The uncertainty over Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan's further participation in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup is finally over with the ICC confirming Thilan Thushara as his replacement for the rest of the tournament.

The International Cricket Council has on Saturday confirmed that the event's technical committee has approved Thushara as replacement for Murali, who has been struggling with a groin injury.

As per the tournament rules once replaced, a player cannot return, which means Twenty World Cup is over for Murali.

The star off-spinner suffered the injury during Sri Lanka's tournament-opening loss to New Zealand in Guyana and missed his side's subsequent victory over Zimbabwe.

Murali, however, turned out in Sri Lanka's 57-run win over the West Indies in the Super Eight stage match here last Saturday.

Left-arm pacer Thushara has represented Sri Lanka in nine Tests, 36 One-Day Internationals and five Twenty20 Internationals, the last of which was against Pakistan in August, 2009.