April 19 (The Indian Express) – Sri Lanka Cricket team announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming World Cup tournament on Thursday. The team will enter the tournament with Dimuth Karunaratne as the captain, while Angelo Mathews will enter the tournament as the vice-captain.
The biggest surprise exclusion from the team was former captain Dinesh Chandimal, who was leading the side in the 50-overs cricket until October. Apart from the right-handed batsman, regular wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella, and offspinner Akila Dananjaya also failed to make it into the team.
The opening pair of Danushka Gunathilaka and Upul Tharanga also failed to make it into the team.
Instead, SLC decided to go ahead with batsman Lahiru Thirimanne, allrounders Milinda Siriwardana and Jeevan Mendis and leggie Jeffrey Vandersay, despite the four players having not played an ODI for Sri Lanka since at least 2017.
Angelo Mathews, on the other hand, was recalled into the side despite missing most of Sri Lanka’s overseas tour last year due to a hamstring strain.
The allrounder recently scored 227 runs in four innings, including a ton and a fifty in the Super Provincial One Day tournament in Sri Lanka, which acted as the selection trial tournament for World Cup aspirants.
Avishka Fernando, who failed to shine with the bat in the South Africa tour in March, was also picked into the side, along with Nuwan Pradeep, who has not featured regularly for the side partly due to injury.
Oshada Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Angelo Perera will also travel with the team as four back-up options, to be used in case of an injury.
Sri Lanka 15-member World Cup Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (C), Avishka Fernando, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Jeffrey Vandersay, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Jeevan Mendis, Milinda Siriwardena
