CWC 2019: The youngest and oldest player from each team
Excitement about the World Cup has increased manifolds after the announcement of the squads of the ten participating teams. All the teams have tried their level best to get that perfect balance between youth and experience. While there is a lot of young exciting talent around, there are some veterans who can still win matches for their teams single-handedly.
Even though ODI and T20 cricket are known to be a young man's game, players like MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle and Imran Tahir have shown again and again that experience is extremely crucial in ODI cricket.
Apart from this, the fitness standards have improved drastically in the last few years and thus a 35-year-old player is more than capable of competing against a 25-year-old for a place in the side. Thus, age hasn't really been a criteria for selection in the World Cup squads. Here is a list of the youngest and oldest players from each team.
#10 Sri Lanka
Oldest player - Jeevan Mendis (Age - 36 years)
Jeevan Mendis was one of the many surprise inclusions in Sri Lanka's World Cup squad. Mendis last played an ODI for Sri Lanka in January 2015 but was named in the World Cup squad at the back of some impressive performances, both with the bat and ball, in Sri Lanka's domestic ODI tournament.
The all-rounder has played 54 matches in his ODI career in which he has scored 604 runs and picked up 28 wickets. Mendis will want to improve his record and contribute with the bat and ball for Sri Lanka.
Youngest player - Avishka Fernando (Age - 21 years)
Avishka Fernando has played 5 ODIs for Sri Lanka in which he has managed to score just 71 runs. However, the youngster has abundance of talent and thus the Sri Lankan selectors took the gamble of exposing him to the big stage.