By Revatha S. Silva
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In what could be termed a bold move, the national cricket selectors have decided to shed the services of a couple of big names for the forthcoming Bangladesh ODI tour[/caption]
In a path-breaking move, the national cricket selectors have decided to infuse more and more young blood in the Sri Lanka ODI team. In what could be termed as a bold move, they have dropped this time a couple of veterans such as Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, and Dinesh Chandimal from the forthcoming ODI tour of Bangladesh, the Morning Sports learnt reliably yesterday (4).
Karunaratne was the former Sri Lanka ODI Captain and Mathews was the one who led Sri Lanka in the previous T20I series in the West Indies, in the absence of regular Skipper of the format Dasun Shanaka.
Chandimal, notably, had already been dropped from the Sri Lanka team in the Test series against the Bangladeshis which ended on Monday (3).
“I have not been officially informed of such thing. Yet I hope to announce my reaction on such a thing only after the selectors are to announce the squad (for the Bangladesh ODI series) in due course,” one of the seniors, who is likely to be omitted from the tour, told Morning Sports.
Meanwhile, Kusal Mendis who had been dropped from the national side due to poor form, has been recalled for the Bangladesh tour, it is understood.
“Sight is set on the next World Cup, the 50-over International Cricket Council (ICC) flagship event, which is to be held in India in 2023… It is reliably understood that the Sri Lankan national cricket selectors … have set their plans to infuse young blood in the national short-format team with their focus on the 2023 World Cup,” we at the Morning Sports reported last Thursday, 29 April while also predicting that “several senior cricketers of the Sri Lanka ODI side will be dropped for the scheduled ODI series in Bangladesh later this month” in the same report.
Among the youngsters who are in the line-up for the Bangladesh tour also include Chamika Karunaratne and Binura Fernando, it is learnt.
We also said in our 29 April report that seniors such as Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva and Isuru Udana would be retained by the Wickramasinghe-led six-member committee.
Meanwhile both seniors and youngsters who have failed the fitness test conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket with regard to the tour had been omitted by the selectors with the current “zero tolerance policy” adopted on such cases by the SLC.
The main criteria for the selections in future will mainly depend on players’ fitness levels, it is understood. The country suffered on more than a couple of occasions in recent months due to poor fitness levels and injuries of key players during important series.
Sri Lanka ODI team is scheduled to leave for Bangladesh on 16 May for a three-match series which is to begin on 23 May at Mirpur, Dhaka.