The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) newly-appointed Chairman of Selectors Upul Tharanga on Thursday announced batter Dhananjaya de Silva as the new captain of the Test team. The immediate concern is to fix the top-order concerns and poor fielding that contributed to SL's poor performance in the recent ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India, in which they placed at ninth with just two wins in nine matches, reported Sri Lanka Cricket. Also, batter Kusal Mendis (ODIs) and all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga (T20Is) are being looked at as captains in white-ball cricket.
"The new Chairman of Selectors, Upul Tharanga while announcing that Dhananjaya de Silva had been appointed as the new captain of the Sri Lanka Test Cricket Team, and that much as the option would have been for one captain for all three formats that there was no other choice than to go forthree separate captains in Kusal Mendis for ODIs and Wanindu Hasaranga (for T20Is) because there was no suitable automatic choice, observed that his selection committee's immediate concern was to fix the inconsistency bugging the top order batting as well as poor fielding that had led to the country's recent world cup debacle. However, he said that Hasaranga had been earmarked as a long-term choice," said a statement from SLC. Dhananjaya replaces Dimuth Karunaratne, who led SL in 30 Tests, winning 12, losing 12 and six draws. He led SL to a series win in South Africa back in 2019, becoming the first-ever Asian side to do so. During his stint as a captain, Karunaratne also reached to the top of the ICC Test Batting Rankings.
