Dhananjaya de Silva replaces Dimuth Karunaratne as Sri Lanka’s new Test captain

Following a horrible end to 2023, Sri Lanka has made some wholesale changes to their teams the most recent one being Dhananjaya de Silva replacing Dimuth Karunaratne as their test captain.

De Silva will be the 18th player to lead the Island Nation in Tests.

De Silva’s first assignment will be the one-off Test against Afghanistan, starting February 6.

The 32-year-old has been a regular member of the test 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.

Dimuth Karunaratne took to social media to confirm that he has been replaced by Dhananjaya de Silva as Sri Lanka’s Test captain.

Karunaratne won 12 of his 30 Tests in charge after being appointed in place of Dinesh Chandimal in 2019.

“Cricket fans world over, as I finally hand over the reins of the SL Test captaincy after a decent and memorable stint, who better other than to you Dhananjaya De Silva, an excellent all round athlete in my books,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Dhana, I’ve watched you grow and develop into a very matured and fantastic cricketer over the years… Smart, ice cool and a very shrewd cricket brain, I may add more so your own style you adapt and also that very famous smile you always wear every time on and off the field.

“I am very confident SL Test cricket is in very safe hands and will be going forward through your tenure as skipper.”
He added: “I’ll be there to support you on and off the field rest assured.”

Earlier Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) named two separate captains in the white-ball formats, with batter Kusal Mendis to lead the ODI team and all rounder Wanindu Hasaranga named the T20I captain.

“I would have preferred to have the same captain for all three formats,” said chief selector Upul Tharanga, “but we are unable to do that at the moment with the players we have.”

The Chief Selector also expressed displeasure at the pitches provided at the ongoing SLC Major League Limited Over Tournament.

Addressing a media briefing in Colombo on 5th January, Upul Tharanga said:

“We are unhappy with the wickets provided for club cricket. When we spoke with the players’ they too expressed displeasure about the pitches. Players want good wickets in order to continue their fine momentum. They complain about the pitches here saying the pitches on the international stage are totally different when compared to the wickets given in Club Cricket.”

“We discussed this issue with Sri Lanka Cricket as well, and they got a plan to include pitch curators from the next season to monitor the wickets. So, I believe at least from the next season we will get good wickets,” Upul went to say.

Tharanga also speaked about their preparation for the T20 World cup in USA/West Indies scheduled to take centre stage in June/July.

“We need to make short-term plans for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA next June, and a long-term plan for the 2027 ODI World Cup. We aim to make selections aligned with these well-thought-out plans,”

“we noted that our team players are not displaying consistent performance, despite their talent. We held discussions with the them before the selections, in idea of guiding them smoothly forward,”