A knee injury has forced spin great Muttiah Muralitharan out of Sri Lanka's side for the first cricket Test against Pakistan starting here Saturday. Captain Kumar Sangakkara said Friday that uncapped off-spinner Suraj Kaluhalmulla and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath had been brought into the squad as potential replacements. Sangakkara said Muralitharan felt discomfort in his knee during practice, but bowled on for a further 40 minutes. “We took a precautionary scan ... we were pretty confident that he was going to make it but the scan report said there was a slight tear, so the risk of his tarring his tendon in the first Test match is very high,” Sangakkara said. “So I don't think we want to risk him getting injured and being out for a long period for the sake of one Test match.” Sangakkara said the reduced bowling attack was still capable of beating Pakistan. “Inexperienced? Yes. Great opportunity? Yes. And do they have the ability? Yes,” Sangakkara said. “It's going to be exciting to see what they can offer us and also when you are desperate to play Test cricket and get an opportunity like this you can see best of players.” The 24-year-old Kaluhalmulla has taken 180 wickets in 50 matches during his first-class career. Herath, 31, has long been on the fringes of the national team, playing 14 Tests over 10 years with 36 wickets. The Test comes four months after a deadly terror attack on Sri Lanka's team in Pakistan. The terrorist ambush outside Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore left eight dead and wounded seven Sri Lanka players. Pakistan captain Younus Khan, who scored a triple century in the opening Test of the abortive tour, was happy that both teams are returning to Test cricket. “That was a crucial time for us because I was the new captain and we had a couple of good youngsters but it was a not good ending, that Lahore incident,” Younus said. “I hope again I score a couple of good innings for Pakistan and Pakistan wins because of that. It's not possible to score every day a 300 or a 200 I'll try the best for my team.” Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera's rare feat of scoring consecutive double-hundreds was a highlight of the series along with Khan's triple-century. Nazir cleared Pakistan opener Imran Nazir has been cleared for national duty again after apologizing for his outburst in a domestic tournament, the cricket board said on Friday. The 27-year-old batsman is expected to return for the one-day series in Sri Lanka starting on July 30, after he was punished for misconduct during a Twenty20 tournament final in Lahore.
