Sri Lanka likely to part ways with Charith Asalanka as T20I skipper

Former Sri Lankan cricketer and current chief selector of Sri Lanka Cricket Upul Tharanga has confirmed that the board could take away captaincy of the T20I team from Charith Asalanka. Sri Lanka will co-host the 2026 T20 World Cup with India, with the tournament scheduled to be held from February 7 to March 8.

While Tharanga did not confirm whether Asalanka will be certainly removed, he hinted at a potential change if the selection committee agrees for the same in the near future.  

"We have to weigh our best options after this series. With a World Cup so close, we can't make a lot of big changes. The selectors, after talking to the coach, will have to make a decision on what's best for the team," stated Asalanka, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

The former left-handed batter also provided the reasoning behind making Dasun Shanaka as the standby captain of the Lankan team in the absence of Asalanka during the ongoing T20I tri-nation series in Pakistan. He also admitted that the batting all-rounder had not quite delivered with the bat in T20Is.

"Charith is still our captain. It's because of an illness to him that we appointed Dasun as our stand-in captain. Charith is still the captain in our plans. We haven't made a decision to change that. We've planned all along for Charith to captain this World Cup. We'll see what happens. We haven't made a decision about that yet. Charith hasn't been among the runs in T20Is, and because of an illness, he was forced to return home," he added.

However, amidst all the speculation regarding his T20I captaincy, Tharanga made it clear that Asalanka will be a part of the plans for the mega event to be held next year.

"Charith is a very talented cricketer, with a lot of experience. I'm sure he'll be an important cricketer for Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup. We've seen what he can do in the middle order, where sometimes he's won games by himself. He's in our World Cup plans," concluded Tharanga.

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Speaking of Asalanka's T20I record, he has registered 1357 runs in 70 matches at a strike rate of 126.35. He has sparingly bowled in the 20-over format, taking seven wickets at an economy of 7.98.