Sri Lankan cricket board on Monday announced the squad for the upcoming T20 series against Australia. Surprisingly the selectors have made seven changes in the squad as they have dropped Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka, Farveez Maharoof, Ramith Rambukwella, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Pradeep. Mathews and Pradeep have been dropped due to injuries.
Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Milinda Siriwardana, Sachithra Senanayake, Thisara Perera, Sachith Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha are the six players who have made a comeback in the national squad.
Kasun Rajitha’s inclusion is the highlight in the squad as the fast bowler teared apart the Indian batting line up on his T20I debut in February this year. He bowled a brilliant spell of 25/3 on his debut.
This will be the last international series for Tillakaratne Dilshan as he is set to retire after this series. The Sri Lankan opener has played 78 T20I’s for his country scoring 1884 runs which include 1 century and 13 half century.
Earlier, the Australian team suffered a blow even before the start of the series as Aron finch and Chris Lynn has been ruled out of the T20 series due to injuries.
Matthew Wade has been named as replacement of Chris Lynn. The first game of the T20I series will be played on September 6 in Pallekele whereas the second game will be played in Colombo.
T20 squad: Dinesh Chandimal (capt.), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Dananjaya de Silva, Chamara Kapugedara, Milinda Siriwardana, Kusal Mendis, Seekkuge Prasanna, Sachithra Senanayake, Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera, Sachith Pathirana, Kasun Rajitha, Dasun Shanaka.