By Leonard Ratnayake
Sri Lankan paceman Lasith Malinga had the last laugh on Saturday when he had been apparently successful in getting Sri Lanka Cricket to abide by his conditions in order for him to continue playing T20 cricket until the World Cup 202o in Australia.
In his retirement announcement from ODI cricket, Lasith Malinga clearly stated that it was a matter of principles and conditions for him to continue playing cricket for the country in the T20 format at least until the next world cup. “My future on playing T20 cricket for the country in the future will depend on some of the things that I have already informed Sri Lanka Cricket and we need to discuss and agree on them for me to continue playing until the next world cup” Malinga stated strongly after playing his last ODI match in July 2019.
Sri Lanka Cricket on Saturday announced its T20 squad against New Zealand for the ongoing tour starting from 29th of August with the notable ommission of former captains Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera, two prolific all-rounders in world T20 cricket.
| 29th August 2019 | T20 Warm Up | MCG – Katunayake |
| 01st September, 2019 | 01st T20 ( Night) | PICS, Kandy |
| 03rd September, 2019 | 02nd T20 ( Night) | PICS, Kandy |
| 06th September, 2019 | 03rd T20 ( Night) | PICS, Kandy |
| 07th September, 2019 | New Zealand Team Departs |
32-year-old Mathews had clearly shown to have regained his form and fitness to continue playing cricket for the country, while Thisara Perera, who is still 30-years-old is a T20 specialist, who had always picked in almost all World XI teams.
It is noted that the team is sans former captains inlcuding out-of-form Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga and Chamara Kapugedera and is surprised how far would it be possible to stick to building a strong XI for the World Cup in Australia over 14 months away.
In 2014, Dinesh Chandimal led the Sri Lanka T20 squad for the T20 World Cup tournament and won the finals incidently led by Lasith Malinga thanks to a team strengthened by the presence of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and TM Dilshan.
However, thereafter, a dressing room rifts over team captaincy and lackluster player contributions towards captain and the team had been the main reason for Sri Lanka’s failure in international cricket, a fault, which is diplomatically masked by the so called transitions period following the retirement of the above key players.
The 2020 ICC T20 World Cup is scheduled to be the seventh ICC T20 World Cup tournament, with matches to be held in Australia from 18 October to 15 November 2020. The final will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Squad
1) Lasith Malinga – Captain
2) Niroshan Dickwella – Vice Captain
3) Avishka Fernando
4) Kusal Janith Perera
5) Danushka Gunathilaka
6) Kusal Mendis
7) Shehan Jayasuriya
8) Dasun Shanaka
9) Wanindu Hasaranga
10) Akila Dananjaya
11) Lakshan Sandakan
12) Isuru Udana
13) Kasun Rajitha
14) Lahiru Kumara
15) Lahiru Madushanka
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