Dilshan Madushanka, the promising left-arm quick from Sri Lanka, will be eyeing a Test debut soon after being picked in a 16-member squad to play the first of two matches against Pakistan starting July 16. The 22-year-old has already caused a stir in the white-ball circuit – he was the biggest buy at the Lanka Premier League auction last month and was considered good enough to be part of their T20 World Cup side in 2022 before injury forced him out of the tournament.
Dimuth Karunaratne continues to captain Sri Lanka, even though he expressed a desire to step down following the end of the home Tests against Ireland, which they won 2-0.
Sri Lanka’s most recent exertions were all in the one-day arena where they went through tough competition in the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe to book a ticket to India for the ODI World Cup in October. Some of those players – Pathum Nissanka and Kasun Rajitha – are part of this Test squad as well, alongside a new face – Lakshitha Manasinghe, a 23-year old offspin-bowling allrounder with 1111 runs and 124 wickets from 37 first-class matches.
Sri Lanka squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Nishan Madushka (wk), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Pathum Nissanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama (wk), Kamindu Mendis, Ramesh Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Praveen Jayawickrama, Kasun Rajitha, Dilshan Madushanka, Vishwa Fernando, Lakshitha Manasinghe
