Dhananjaya de Silva has been ruled out of the remainder of the South Africa tour with a grade two tear in his left thigh. de Silva had retired hurt on 79 on the opening day of the Test series against South Africa on Saturday, and had to be taken off the field in a buggy. He underwent an MRI scan after the close of play, which confirmed a tear of "about 20% or 30%" according to team manager Ashantha de Mel. Sri Lanka are hoping de Silva will recover in two weeks - in time to be available for England's Test tour of Sri Lanka in January.

"He can hardly stand on it at the moment, so he won't be taking the field," de Mel told ESPNcricinfo. "Maybe if we're in a desperate situation we might consider sending him to bat, but he can't even walk to the wicket."

de Silva's 106-ball 79 had helped Sri Lanka recover from 54 for 3, and his fluent innings had taken them to 185 with no further loss when he completed a single off debutant Lutho Sipamla. However, he immediately looked to be in severe discomfort, collapsing to the ground and had to be helped off the field. The base set by him and the other half-centurion Dinesh Chandimal (85) helped Sri Lanka finish day one on 340 for 6.

The injury not only dents Sri Lanka's batting resources in the ongoing Test, it also weakens their attack, with de Silva having been effective with his offspin on Sri Lanka's last tour of South Africa. The only other slow bowler in the XI is debutant legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga.

de Silva will now hope to be fit for the first Test against England, which begins on January 14 in Galle.