No place in ODI squad for suspended Chandimal, Gunathilaka

Two of Sri Lanka’s suspended cricketers Dinesh Chandimal and Danushka Gunathilaka were left out from the 15-man squad picked to play South Africa in a five-match one-day international series starting at Dambulla on Sunday.

At the same time injury prone Angelo Mathews returns to lead Sri Lanka after missing out on both ODIs and T20Is less than two weeks after being reinstated as his country’s limited overs captain in January this year.

Gunathilaka, a left-handed opener was suspended on Sunday by Sri Lanka Cricket on a charge of “misconduct” where he had broken curfew rules and had a male friend in his team hotel room during the second Test against South Africa at the SSC.

SLC has suspended him from all international cricket pending an inquiry.

Gunathilaka’s suspension is a blow to Sri Lanka as he was the side's second highest-scoring batsman with 161 runs in the 2-0 Test series whitewash of South Africa. In the second Test played at his home ground SSC, Gunathilaka made twin fifties and shared in opening stands of 116 and 91 with Dimuth Karunaratne who has been named as a standby.

Chandimal, who led Sri Lanka in Mathews’ absence is currently serving a four-match ODI ban for “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game” for refusing to take his team onto the field during the first session of play in the second Test against West Indies at St Lucia’s last month..

Also missing from the line up since the last ODI series in Bangladesh in January are fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera and all-rounder Asela Gunaratne, who had picked up injuries during the ODI series in Bangladesh, fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep, rookie paceman Shehan Madushanka, and leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.

Included in their places are medium-pacer Kasun Rajitha who made his Test debut in the West Indies last month and could be a front-runner to make his ODI debut, uncapped left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, and all-rounders Shehan Jayasuriya and Dasun Shanaka. Shehan Jayasuriya is expected to take Gunathilaka’s place in the line-up.

Sri Lanka have not won a bilateral ODI series since 2016 when they beat Ireland 2-0 (away) and West Indies 3-0 in 2015 (home) which speaks a lot for their current ODI ranking at eighth. South Africa won the last ODI series played in Sri Lanka in 2014 by 2-1.