LNP – Dasun Shanaka set to be named new ODI and T20 Captain

The game of musical chairs for captaincy in Sri Lankan cricket is set for the next round, as according to the latest reports the board will be dropping Kusal Perera as the limited-overs skipper with all-rounder Dasun Shanaka set to take the role in white-ball formats ahead of the upcoming series against India.

Kusal Perera, the dynamic opener, was given the captaincy role just a few months ago. He has captained the side in three series – starting from May in a 3-match series in Bangladesh, which Sri Lanka lost by a 2-1 margin; they were then white-washed 3-0 in the T20I series in England, and 2-0, with one game washed out, in the ODIs against Eoin Morgan’s side.

This decision, however, doesn’t come as a surprise considering that the board has elected and sacked numerous captains in the past few years as Sri Lanka cricket continues to attain new lows; also, Chief selector Pramodya Wickramasingha, prior to the Bangladesh tour had hinted that Kusal Perera’s captaincy tenure was a temporary one in the first place.

Dasun Shanaka, in fact, has experience of leading the national side – he captained a young team to a T20I series victory in Pakistanis back in 2019.

Sri Lanka hosts a second-string Indian side, led by Shikhar Dhawan, for 3 ODIs starting July 13, followed by 3 T20Is. The announcement of Dasun Shanaka’s appointment as the new limited-overs captain is expected to be made soon.

Kusal Perera led the team very well: Mickey Arthur
Despite a winless tour of England, Sri Lanka’s head coach Mickey Arthur was impressed with Kusal Perera.

He took the left-hander’s captaincy as one of the positives on a rather dismal tour, praising the opener for holding the team in difficult times, on and off the field – the players have been having an issue with the board regarding their contracts. Arthur also was impressed with the pacers in the games against England.

“The positives I’d take out of it, I thought Kusal Janith [Perera] led the team very, very well in very trying times and I thought our quick bowling attack was fairly good which was great.

“We know we’ve got the spinners but to see some of our quicks come through was really, really exciting,” Mickey Arthur told talkSPORT’s Following On podcast.

-Agencies