Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) yesterday officially announced the 18-member Sri Lanka One Day International (ODI) Squad for the tour of Bangladesh after obtaining approval from Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa.
“We have taken into consideration the long-term prospects, especially for the World Cup in 2023 before selecting the ODI Squad,” Chairman Selection Committee Promodya Wickramasinghe told the Daily News yesterday.
“We have to play two T20 World Cups this year in October and in 2022. We are at the lowest level in whiteball cricket and our interest is not to please anyone but to make Sri Lanka cricket great once again.”
“Always the selectors get the blame but we have to think twice for the future of cricket.”
“Some seniors are not included for this squad. This doesn’t mean we have completely shut the door on these seniors.” “They could still make a comeback purely on merit if they maintain their fitness levels according to standards expected and perform in domestic cricket.”
“We took a decision to include Praveen Jayawickrama and Pathum Nissaka and both have showed their capabilities in their previous matches.”
“I think the seniors are now under pressure to rejoin the team and it is very good to build up the team in this way.”
“We don’t want to see any divisions within the team anymore. It was prevalent in the team in the past which is why the selectors had to bring in Dimuth Karunaratne to diffuse tension at that time.”
We need the captain to be a strong leader and if there are any disruptive forces within we are ready to deal with them,” added Wickramasinghe.
Sri Lanka ODI Squad: Kusal Janith Perera (Captain) Kusal Mendis (Vice-Captain), Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Pathum Nissanka, Dasun Shanaka, Ashen Bandara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Niroshan Dickwella, Dushmantha Chameera, Ramesh Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan, Chamika Karunaratne, Binura Fernando and Shiran Fernando.
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