Sri Lanka axe three former captains in major shake-up

Sri Lanka have axed former captains Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews in a major team overhaul with an eye on the 2023 World Cup in India, with Kusal Perera installed as their new one-day skipper.

Under Karunaratne, who remains their Test captain, Sri Lanka were beaten 3-0 in West Indies in March this year, although few expected him to be sacked given he has a solid 10-7 record as ODI skipper.

The new selection committee, led by Pramodya Wickramasinghe, also took the bold step of dropping veteran allrounder Mathews from an 18-member squad for a three-match series in Bangladesh later this month.

Mathews was named player-of-the-match in his second most recent ODI and has been a steady recent performer, averaging 35 with the bat in the past two years, including a hundred against India at the 2019 World Cup.

Chandimal has been out of favour in the one-day side for some time but did make a score of 71 against the Windies in March.

Between them Karunaratne, Chandimal and Mathews have played more than 400 ODIs and scored more than 10,000 runs.

The selectors decided to invest in youth to prepare a "more aggressive team for the 2023 Cricket World Cup," Sri Lanka Cricket said on its website.

Just three members of the 18-man squad are aged 30 or older.

Kusal Mendis was recalled and has been named deputy to Perera, who will be Sri Lanka's ninth one-day captain in the last five years after Chandimal, Mathews, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Chamara Kapugedara and Karunaratne.

ODI squad: Kusal Perera (capt), Kusal Mendis, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Pathum Nissanka, Dasun Shanaka, Ashen Bandara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Niroshan Dickwella, Dushmantha Chameera, Ramesh Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan, Chamika Karunaratne, Binura Fernando, Shiran Fernando.

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