Picture Credit: X
After Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga as the new ODI and T20I skipper, SLC on Thursday, January 4th confirmed Dhananjaya de Silva as the new Test skipper. The announcement was made after recent changes in the Sri Lanka Cricket.
Notably, de Silva will be the 18th player to take the captaincy reins in Test cricket for Sri Lanka. He will replace Dimuth Karunaratne, who led the side in 30 Tests between 2019 and 2023, finishing with a 12-12-6 win-loss-draw record. Sri Lanka’ most notable win with Karunaratne as captain came in against South Africa in 2019. With this win, Sri Lanka also became the first Asian side to do so and third overall.
Sri Lanka’s Chief Selector Upul Tharanga confirmed this update. “I would have preferred to have the same captain for all three formats, but we are unable to do that at the moment with the player we have,” said Tharanga.
Speaking of de Silva, the 32-year-old ha been a regular member of the squad. In his 51 Tests, he has scored 3301 runs at an average of under 40. He has ten centuries and 13 half-centuries under his belt.
Dhananjaya de Silva will lead his for the first time against Afghanistan in the one-off Test, starting February 6.
