Afghanistan’s tour of Sri Lanka 2024
Sri Lanka has named their 16-member squad for the test match, including newcomers Lahiru Udara, Milan Ratanayake, and Chamika Gunasekara. Alongside these fresh faces, experienced players like Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, and Dinesh Chandimal will also be part of the squad.
The selection committee has focused on strengthening the batting lineup by including Nishan Madushka, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, and Dimuth Karunaratne. This will provide the team with more firepower.
In terms of the bowling attack, Asitha Fernando will lead the pace alongside Vishwa Fernando and Kasun Rajitha. Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis will handle the spin department as the leggie and off-spinner, respectively.
Notably, Lasith Embuldeniya and Akila Dhananjaya have been left out of the squad for this series.
This test series will also mark a new era for Sri Lanka under the captaincy of 32 year old Dananjaya de Silva.
On the other hand, Afghanistan officially announced their squad to face Sri Lanka on Monday (29).
They have included four uncapped players, including Noor Ali Zadran, Zia-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Ishaaq, and Naveed Zadran.
However, their star player Rashid Khan will miss the series due to his ongoing rehabilitation process after surgery.
Afghanistan’s last test match was against Bangladesh in June 2023, where they suffered a heavy defeat. They have excluded Karim Janat and Amir Hamza for the test against Sri Lanka but retained their strong batting lineup, including Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ibrahim Zadran, Abdul Malik, and Rahmat Shah.
This will be Afghanistan’s first test match against Sri Lanka, as they have only played seven tests since their debut in 2018. In addition to the test match, their tour will also include three ODIs and T20Is.
Sri Lanka Probable test cricket Squad (subject to approval by the sports Minister): Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Kusal Mendis (V.capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Sadeera Samarawickrema, Nishan Madushka, Kamindu Mendis, Lahiru Udara, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Ramesh Mendis, Vishwa Fernando, Chamika Gunasekara, Milan Ratnayake