SRI LANKA will begin 2024 with a new captain for each format after Dhananjaya de Silva was named the new skipper of the Test side. The announcement from SLC follows the recent appointments of Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga as leaders of the ODI and T20I sides respectively.
De Silva, 32, will be the 18th different player to captain Sri Lanka in men’s Tests when he leads the side out for the one-off Test against Afghanistan. He takes over the reins of the side from Dimuth Karunaratne, who captained in 30 Tests between 2019 and 2023, finishing with a 12-12-6 win-loss-draw record.
Karunaratne’s tenure as captain began with a historic, against-all-odds series win in South Africa and while results thereafter were less dramatic in nature, he brought a sense of calm to the team during what was a period of churn in the country’s cricket. Leadership brought the best out of Karunaratne the batter as he averaged nearly 50 with the bat, considerably higher than his career average of 40.93.
His successor, de Silva, has been a regular member of the squad. His 51 Tests so far have fetched 3301 runs at an average shade under 40.
“I would have preferred to have the same captain for all three formats,” said chief selector Upul Tharanga, “but we are unable to do that at the moment with the players we have.” (Cricbuzz)
