- Retain him as Captain for both white ball series
- Sri Lanka names squads for T20Is and ODIs
- Two uncapped players picked
- Dasun Shanaka recalled to ODI team after 2½ year absence
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka have been named in Sri Lanka’s T20I and ODI squads for the tour of England commencing 5 September. Both players missed the recently concluded 2-Test series against India due to injury.
As per the selection committee’s policy that players returning from injury should prove their fitness by playing in a match, Nissanka who underwent surgery in his wrist played in two Major T20 matches for NCC making scores of 31 and 7, but in Mendis’ case he has been picked to lead the team in the two white ball series without playing a single game. Mendis suffered a Grade 3C hamstring injury during the Lanka Premier League and has been recuperating at the High Performance Centre at Khettarama since. He has been going through all the sessions, batting, wicket-keeping and running, but not pushed to 100 percent. On the advice of the physio he was asked not to play although he was keen to.
Mendis is expected to continue his rehab with the team’s physio in England where he is due to prove his match fitness by playing in the two warm-up T20 games against England Lions scheduled for 11 September at Chelmsford and 13 September at Beckenham. Sri Lanka plays their first T20I against England at Southampton on 15 September.
The selectors are taking a gamble by naming Mendis in the squads to England where if he fails to come through Charith Asalanka who has been named Vice-Captain for both formats will return to his former position as white ball captain which he lost during Sri Lanka’s tour to Pakistan last year. Asalanka not only lost the captaincy but also his place in the T20I side after the T20 World Cup in February this year. He however remains a crucial player in Sri Lanka’s ODI set up.
Asalanka has found favour with the selectors in the T20I side on the back of a stellar Lanka Premier League (LPL) season where he helped Galle Gladiators win the title for the first time scoring 385 runs from 11 innings at a strike rate of 153.38 and winning the Player of the Match in the final with 3/20 against Jaffna Kings.
Asalanka replaces Kamindu Mendis as vice-captain of the white ball teams. Since being elevated the pressure of vice-captaincy has had an impact on Kamindu’s performance. It seems that it was too premature to put him there although he is definitely captaincy material for the future.
Two other players from the champion Galle Gladiators side spinners Tharindu Rathnayake (T20I) and Sachindu Colombage (ODI), both uncapped also gain selection. That performance in the LPL does matter is proved by the selection of Lahiru Udara in the T20I squad. Udara, a prolific run-getter in white ball domestic cricket was the leading run scorer in the LPL with 434 runs from nine innings at a strike rate of 159.55 for Kandy Royals which included the highest individual score in the LPL – 132 against eventual champions Galle Gallants. Udara has made only one T20I appearance for his country against Afghanistan in the 2023 Asian Games and his recall to the national side after a three-year gap only confirms the strides he has made in the shortest format.
From the white ball sides that toured West Indies early this year Lasith Croospulle, Milan Rathnayake and Pramod Madushan have been left out paving the way for the inclusion of Udara, Tharindu Rathnayake and Colombage.
With the 50-over Cricket World Cup barely 12 months away, Sri Lanka’s struggles to find a good pinch hitter in their ODI line-up has forced the selectors to recall hard-hitting all-rounder Dasun Shanaka after an absence of two and a half years. Several have been tried out in the number 7-8 slot but none has succeeded.
His inclusion comes on the back of some outstanding performances in T20I cricket this year where he has scored 332 runs in 15 matches at a strike rate of 171.13. He gets another chance to re-establish himself in the ODI set-up. Shanaka, 34 played the last of his 71 ODIs against Zimbabwe in January 2024 before he was dumped from the side following an embarrassing 2023 World Cup where he lost the ODI captaincy to Kusal Mendis.
Sri Lanka plays England in three T20Is at Southampton (15 September), Cardiff (17 September) and Manchester (19 September) followed by three ODIs at Durham (22 September), Leeds (24 September) and Oval (27 September).
ODI squad: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka (Vice-Captain), Kusal Mendis (Captain), Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Sachindu Colombage, Dushmantha Chameera, Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka
T20I squad: Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Lahiru Udara, Kusal Mendis (Captain), Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka (Vice-Captain), Janith Liyanage, Dasun Shanaka, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Tharindu Rathnayake, Dushmantha Chameera, Eshan Malinga, Nuwan Thushara, Binura Fernando
