Experienced campaigner Lahiru Thirimanne and inexperienced Dasun Shanaka will be leading Sri Lanka’s ODI and T20I squad in Pakstan, respectively. The news has come after regular ODI skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and T20I skipper Lasith Malinga pulled out of the tour. Apart from these two, eight other players also backed out.
Also Read: Ravi Shastri to raise fitness level of Indian players; will try Rohit Sharma as Test opener
It left Sri Lanka from a handful of players to choose from and they inked on Thirimanne and Shanaka for the leadership job. After inking on the captains, the next challenge for the island nation will be to assemble the squads for the tour.
Thirimanne has an experience of playing 125 ODIs in which he has scored 3158 runs at 35.08. He was also a part of Sri Lanka’s World Cup 2019 squad.
Shanaka, on the other hand, has just played 30 T20Is. In the recently concluded series against New Zealand, he scored 24 runs in three innings.
Read More: ‘It Is Absolute Nonsense’ – Ravi Shastri On Alleged Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma Rift
With the senior players backing out, Sri Lanka will have an inexperienced team that will be taking on Pakistan and it will be more or less a second-string team that might not able to sustain against the hosts.
Also Read: Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav in mix for T20 World Cup
Last year, West Indies too faced the same issue and they sent a third-string side to Pakistan that lost badly to the hosts. Sri Lanka are yet to name the squads for the tour.
Despite the seniors backing out, Sri Lanka’s tour to Pakistan is on and the two teams will play three ODIs and three T20Is. The ODIs will be played in Karachi on September 27, 29 and October 3, respectively. The two teams will then face each other in three T20Is in Lahore on October 5, 7 and 9.
Read More: BBL 2019/20: Melbourne Stars Likely To Add Dale Steyn
Later, they will play a two-match Test series that will be part of ICC Test championships. Earlier, Sri Lana were to play a Test match in Pakistan but later, the two boards agreed upon playing white-ball cricket there.