Sri Lanka announce 15-member squad to face India in the first test
Sri Lanka announced its fifteen member squad for the first Test match against India. Dinesh Chandimal will not be a part of this Test owing to his incomplete recovery from Pneumonia.
The team will be led by Rangana Herath, who also captained the Sri Lankan side during their tour of Zimbabwe. Herath is one of the best Sri Lankan spinners and in the home series against Bangladesh, he accomplished the milestone of bagging 1000 first class wickets.
Asela Gunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella, who were the stars of Sri Lanka's record chase against Zimbabwe in the one-off Test match, retain their places in the squad. The hosts also named Upul Tharanga, Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne in their squad.
Betting on the all-rounders Dhananjaya de Silva and Angelo Matthews, Sri Lanka aims at improving the overall performance of their side. As for the fast bowling department, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando have been included in the team.
Besides Herath, Dilruwan Perera is the other spinner included in the squad. The team also includes one uncapped player - Malinda Pushpakumara.
Pushpakumara, who will serve as the all-rounder has 558 first class wickets at his disposal at an average of 19.85.
Dhananjaya has been recalled to the squad to replace the skipper Dinesh Chandimal. Whereas Pushpakumara and Pradeep replaced Lakshan Sandakan and Dushamanth Chameera.
While Chandimal has replaced Angelo Mathews as the Test skipper, Upul Tharanga has taken over the mantle for the One Day Internationals and the Twenty20 side.
India-Sri Lanka Test series will begin on 26th July with the first Test scheduled to take place at Galle.
Following the Test series, the two teams will take part in a five-match ODI series followed by a one-off T20 encounter at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Team: Rangana Herath (c), Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Matthews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya de Silva, Danushka Gunakthilaka, Dilruwan Perera, Suranaga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Malinda Pushpakumara and Nuwan Pradeep.