- Insists they are engaged in regular practices
Sri Lanka Test Captain Dhananjaya de Silva says that although his players have been reduced to mere spectators as per the ongoing Future Tours Programme (FTP) for his country, they are continuing to maintain physical fitness by turning out for regular practice sessions.
He said that despite his team being starved of Tests for the foreseeable future, they were not prepared to use it as an excuse to twiddle their thumbs, but rather intended to use the ongoing break to sharpen their skillsets and be prepared to hit the ground running next year.
“We are using this time period to maintain our physical fitness at an optimum level,” he told a media conference held at the SSC Clubhouse on Tuesday (12).
“Obviously we would have liked to have played more Tests after the Bangladesh series, but the FTP formulation has delayed our next series until as late as July 2026. That’s beyond our control, but what we can control is our preparation and being in prime physical condition to take on our next opponents when the opportunity comes.
“With that in mind, we regularly report for our training sessions, and do our physical training and related sessions,” he added.
De Silva, who is due to turn 34 early next month, said that the current schedule for the red-ball team would primarily affect those who plied their trade in the five-day format. However, he took comfort from the fact that a few others who played all formats had not had such issues to contend with.
Apart from the skipper, the others who largely play Tests for Sri Lanka following the retirement of former skipper Angelo Mathews are batter Oshada Fernando, spinners Prabath Jayasuriya and Tharindu Rathnayake, and pacers Kasun Rajitha, Milan Rathnayake, and Lahiru Kumara, to name a few.
The rest, including batters Dinesh Chandimal, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, and pacer Asitha Fernando, are categorised as all-format players.
The Sanath Jayasuriya-coached team has made a decent start to the new 2025-’27 cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC), where they won a two-match series against Bangladesh at home last June-July.
But they are not expected to be in action till July next year when they visit the Caribbean for a two-match Test series, after which they are to be engaged in further series against India (2026 home), Pakistan (2026 away), New Zealand (2027 away), and defending champions South Africa (2027 home).
Back in 2023, Sri Lanka had a superb opportunity to seal a place at the WTC finals. The side, led by Dimuth Karunaratne at the time, had to overcome New Zealand in both Tests to book their place in the title clash at the London Oval, but ended up losing both.
In the previous 2023-’25 cycle, they finished sixth on the points table with a win percentage of 38.46.
(JK)