Nidahas Trophy: Sri Lanka announce 15-man squad for the tournament

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced 15-man final squad for the upcoming Nidahas Trophy at home starting from March 6. The wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella has been dropped from the team following his consistent poor returns with the bat. Kusal Perera will take over the job behind the stumps in his absence. However, Dinesh Chandimal will be leading the team in the absence of regular skipper Angelo Mathews.

The selectors had picked a 20-man preliminary squad on Tuesday and had ignored the veteran Lasith Malinga despite performing well in the domestic T20s. He had picked 10 wickets in three matches but the chairman of the selectors advised him to play more domestic games in order to earn his place in the national team. The team will also miss the services of Asela Gunaratne, Shehan Madushanka and Angelo Mathews who have failed to recover from their respective injuries.

Who all are included?

The squad is almost similar which toured Bangladesh for two-match T20I series. Nuwan Pradeep and Dushmantha Chameera are the other significant inclusions to bolster the pace attack. The all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva has been picked in the squad despite last featuring in the format for Sri Lanka in January 2017 against South Africa. Kusal Mendis too has retained his place after a couple of blistering knocks against Bangladesh in their own den.

However, the decision to drop Dickwella might have come due to his lean run in the limited overs format. He has scored only a solitary half-century in ODI cricket in 17 innings after scoring back-to-back hundreds against Zimbabwe in September last year. As far as T20 Internationals are concerned, he could only muster 39 runs during three matches against India and scored 11 runs in the only game he played. Dickwella was axed for the second and final match of the series which the team from island nation sealed by 2-0.

The T20I tri-series will commence on March 6 in which the teams will face each other twice after which the top two will play the final for the ultimate glory.

Sri Lanka T20I squad: Dinesh Chandimal (c), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Janith Perera, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Suranga Lakmal (vc), Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Amila Aponso, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Dhananjaya De Silva

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