New Selection Committee of Sri Lanka makes major leadership changes across all formats

The newly formed selection committee of Sri Lanka has made some big decisions in the leadership of the national men’s team of Sri Lanka. They have appointed the star wicketkeeper-batter Kusal Mendis as the ODI skipper, alongside appointing the star all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga as the new T20I skipper.

This change in the captaincy of Sri Lanka also marks an end to the captaincy stint of Dasun Shanaka as a regular skipper of the side in the white-ball cricket. Besides Kusal Mendis in ODIs and Wanindu Hasaranga in T20Is, Dimuth Karunaratne will continue to lead the national men’s cricket team in Test cricket.

Speaking of Shanaka’s captaincy records, he led the Islanders in 41 ODIs and 48 T20Is; in these matches, Sri Lanka have won 23 ODIs and 22 T20Is under the captaincy of Dasun Shanaka.

Apart from that, Sri Lanka had a very dismal run in the ODI World Cup 2023 as they ended up at the ninth spot in the points table, just ahead of the Netherlands; Sri Lanka could win only 2 matches out of the 9 league matches they played and lost 7 matches. The captain of the side was changed in the middle of the tournament as Kusal Mendis took over as stand-in skipper after the regular skipper Dasun Shanaka was ruled out due to injury.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s new selection committee also announced the preliminary squads for the upcoming white-ball tour of Zimbabwe.

Preliminary ODI squad of Sri Lanka:

Kusal Mendis (C), Charith Asalanka (VC), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sahan Arachchige, Nuwanidu Fernando, Dasun Shanaka, Kamindu Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Dushmantha Chameera, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Asitha Fernando, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Gunasekera

Preliminary T20I squad of Sri Lanka:

Wanindu Hasaranga (C), Charith Asalanka (VC), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Kusal Janith Perera, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara, Pramod Madushan, Matheesha Pathirana