Sports

What’s going to be Dasun’s lifespan as captain?

Published

4 years ago

2021/07/9

by Rex Clementine

The lifespan of a fly is said to be four weeks, apparently a Sri Lankan cricket captain has a shorter lifespan than a fly.

Gone are the days where Arjuna Ranatunga ran the side with an iron-fist for a decade and built an empire as good as Clive Lloyds’ West Indies of 1970s and Stephen Waugh’s Australians of 1990s. People can say that Arjuna was a different beast but then, his successor Sanath Jayasuriya held fort for four years; won and built up a team for the future. Marvan Atapattu, who succeeded him should have skippered the side for a considerable time too but that was a time when cricket’s power base was shifting from Maitland Place to Perera Gardens.

Kusal Janith Perera’s appointment as captain of Sri Lanka’s white ball team in May took many by surprise. The selectors had been bold to axe as many as six seniors from the white ball team but for the same selectors to say that they opted for KJP because he is the only guy who was sure of a place was amateurish and impulsive. Surely, they didn’t take a leaf out of Haroon Lorgat, one of South Africa’s best chief selectors.

When South Africa crashed out of the 2003 World Cup in the first round, Lorgat axed Shaun Pollock, one of the nicest guys you will come across in cricket. Now Lorgat didn’t say, ‘Let me give the captaincy to Jacques Kallis because he is someone who is sure of his place.’ He also didn’t turn to Mark Boucher or Garry Kirsten, other blokes who were sure of their places. Instead, he appointed a 23-year-old rookie by the name of Graeme Smith and the rest as they say is history.

Maybe making these tough decisions should be left for men who are made of sterner stuff like Michael Tissera, Duleep Mendis, Sidath Wettimuny or Ashantha de Mel.

It was a foregone conclusion that KJP was on borrowed time. He promised to play a fearless brand of cricket but failed to walk the talk. Maybe people expected too much from a lad who hadn’t even captained Royal.

There is no denying of the fact that KJP is a courageous guy. He played the last game in Bristol carrying a shoulder injury. On his return home, just before he went to Nawaloka to get a pain killer injection; he was called up by Head Coach Mickey Arthur to be informed that he has been sacked. The people who appointed him only phoned later to say that he’s got too much on his plate. They can say that the team is in a bubble and outside interaction is minimal. But here’s an interesting one. Dimuth Karunaratne hasn’t been told up to now why he was sacked as skipper. That’s not cricket.

All in all, Dasun Shanaka has been someone who has been groomed for captaincy.

When seniors got cold feet and refused to tour Pakistan in 2019, it is Shanaka who skippered the side and won a series against a team ranked number one at that point. But since then for some reason Shanaka has been overlooked. Surely, he must have been made deputy to KJP. That sums up the story as to how clueless decision makers are. No wonder cricket is in a mess. Spare a thought to Shanaka. Poor bloke now has five days to get the team together and play a series.

There are concerns that Dasun is not sure of his place in the ODI side. That should be the least concern for we are running out of leaders. At this rate, we might have to bring T.M. Dilshan out of retirement.

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Sports

ICC shortlists venues for 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka

Published

2 hours ago

2025/11/8

Thilina Walpola

Ahmedabad will host the final of the 2026 T20 World Cup, unless Pakistan qualify for it

The ICC has finalised Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai as the venues in India for the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Sri Lanka as well. It is understood the ICC has shortlisted two venues in Colombo and Kandy as the three venues in Sri Lanka.

The T20 World Cup is set to begin on February 7 and will conclude with the final in Ahmedabad on March 8. According to PTI, the ICC is likely to release the schedule next week, with just about three months to go for the start of the tournament. It is understood that the majority of the participating countries have been waiting for the ICC to inform them about the grouping of teams as well as the schedule. The ICC is also yet to release ticketing information for the tournament.

Pakistan will play all their games in Sri Lanka as per the agreement reached between the BCCI and PCB for India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues during multi-nation tournaments hosted by the other country. If Pakistan make the final, the fixture will be held in Sri Lanka.

The 2026 T20 World Cup will have the same format as the previous edition – 20 teams split into four groups of five each, with every team playing the others once. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super-eight stage, where they will be placed into two groups of four. The top two sides from each Super-eight group will then qualify for the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-final will meet in the final.

Apart from hosts India and Sri Lanka, the other teams with automatic qualification to the tournament were the top seven teams from the 2024 T20 World Cup – Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, South Africa, United States of America and West Indies. The three teams that qualified on the basis of their T20I rankings were New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.

Canada took the lone spot from the Americas Qualifier. Italy, first time T20 World Cup participants, and Netherlands, qualified from the five-team tournament in Europe. Namibia and Zimbabwe grabbed the two spots from the eight-team African qualifier before Nepal, Oman and UAE made it from the Asian -EAP round.

India are the defending champions, having beaten South Africa in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Yashitha wins men’s singles title

Published

2 hours ago

2025/11/8

Thilina Walpola

Yashitha De Silva (Pic by Kamal Wanniarachchi)

Mercantile Tennis Tournament 2025

Yashitha De Silva of MAS Holding beat Sanka Athukarala of Lanka Minerals & Chemical to clinch the Division I men’s singles title of the Mercantile Tennis tournament held at Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts.

Yashitha beat Sanka 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final.

Latest News

Eshan Malinga picked for white-ball tour of Pakistan; Rajapaksa back for T20Is

Published

11 hours ago

2025/11/7

Priyan

Bhanuka Rajapaksa last played a T20I in January this year [Cricinfo]

Dasun Shanaka has been named Sri Lanka’s vice-captain for the upcoming T20I tri-series that will also involve Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Fast bowler Eshan Malinga, meanwhile, is in line to make his debut in the same series while also being included in the ODI squad for the three matches against Pakistan before the tri-series begins.

Dilshan Madushanka has been ruled out of the ODI series as he hasn’t yet recovered from a knee injury, and was replaced by Malinga, whereas Matheesha Pathirana isn’t a part of the T20I squad as he is recovering from an upper respiratory tract infection. Pathirana was replaced by Asitha Fernando.

Top-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who last played a T20I at the start of the year, was back in the squad for the shortest format, having missed two bilateral series and the Asia Cup since then.

Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage didn’t find a spot in either of the 16-member squads, but he will lead Sri Lanka A in the Rising Stars T20 Asia Cup in Doha later this month.

Sri Lanka’s ODIs against Pakistan are all scheduled to be played in Rawalpindi, on November 11, 13 and 15. Those will be followed by the tri-series from November 17 in Rawalpindi and Lahore, with the final slated for November 29.

Sri Lanka squads

ODIs: Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Pavan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranaga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dushmantha Chameera, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan, Eshan Malinga

T20I tri-series: Charith Asalanka (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, Kamil Mishara, Dasun Shanaka (vice-capt), Kamindu Mendis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranaga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushan Hemantha, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Asitha Fernando, Eshan Malinga

[Cricinfo]