Sri Lanka World Cup squad announced: Chandimal out, Malinga in, Karunaratne named captain

The Sri Lanka cricket board has continued to sprung surprises as they have included five players in their ICC World Cup squad who haven’t played any One Day International cricket in the last two years.

And the selectors have also left out Dinesh Chandimal who was captaining the Sri Lanka team until six months back while Lasith Malinga finds a place in the team and Dimuth Karunaratne will be captaining the team despite not playing ODI cricket since 2015 World Cup.

Karunaratne to lead Sri Lanka, Chandimal still out 

Dimuth Karunaratne has been one of the most consistent performers for Sri Lanka in Test cricket in the recent times and more importantly won a historic Test series in South Africa in his first assignment as a captain of the Test team.

Sri Lanka have named their #CWC19 squad! ?? pic.twitter.com/TPXM4zNVwH

— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) April 18, 2019

However his numbers in ODI cricket are poor. He averages 15.83 after playing 17 ODIs and has scored just 190 runs with one half-century.

Meanwhile, Dinesh Chandimal has been ignored by the selectors. Chandimal has experience of 146 ODIs and averages 32.42 with 3599 runs.

Sri Lanka opt for a balanced side

The batting department is led by senior pro Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera along with Kusal Perera. The presence of Lasith Malinga strengthens Sri Lanka’s bowling department and there is Suranga Lakmal as well who has done well in the recent times.

Also check who made it to England’s preliminary World Cup squad 

The spin department features Jeffrey Vandersay along with Milinda Siriwardana and Jeevan Mendis who can bat as well. Interestingly, the selectors have left out Akila Dananjaya, the off-spinner who is known for his mystery spin. Also missing from the squad is opening batsman Upal Tharanga.

Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal