Kapila Wijegunawardene holding his inaugural meeting with the media since being installed as Cricket Selectors Chairman four months ago said that the main focus of the selection panel was to have a settled squad for the 2027 Cricket World Cup that will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in February-March.
One of the key changes the selection committee made for the white ball tour to England in this regard was to recall all-rounder Dasun Shanaka to the ODI squad after a lapse of two years.
Wijegunawardene, a former Sri Lanka fast bowler said that Shanaka was being considered as a possible number 7 batting all-rounder as Sri Lanka were looking for a player capable of strengthening the balance of the side.
Another change brought about to this effect was appointing Charith Asalanka as vice-captain to Kusal Mendis for the two white ball formats (ODI and T20I) for the England tour at the expense of Kamindu Mendis who was vice-captain for the series in the Caribbean and the home Tests against India.
‘The rationale in making Kamindu vice-captain for all three formats was when we looked at the playing 11 he was the mainstay in all three, that was the reason to make him vice-captain in the Caribbean,’ said Wijegunawardene. ‘Subsequently, he carried on with the Indian series as well. But when we were picking the team for the England tour Charith Aslanka made it back into both formats and based on his performances and given his seniority and captaincy experience, he was handed over the vice-captaincy.’
Wijegunawardene said that Kamindu was regarded as one of Sri Lanka’s key batsmen and they wanted him to give him the freedom to concentrate on his batting and it was not due to any performance or disciplinary related issue.
‘Removal of the vice-captaincy has no relevance in picking the captain,’ he said.
Speaking further Wijegunawardene said that the selection committee hoped to develop a clearer picture of its preferred World Cup squad over the upcoming tours to England, Pakistan, India and New Zealand. But injuries and player workloads could still force changes. ‘The objective is to establish the core group that Sri Lanka intends to develop for the World Cup. Planning is key. We are planning to succeed, we are not planning to fail.’
Further on the subject of captaincy, Wijegunawardene acknowledged the fact that the Test team in recent times had not performed to expectations and added that it was premature to speculate on whether there would be a change of captain.
‘Given our performance in the Test format in the recent past, it’s obvious that none of us can be happy about what we have been delivering. When the next format selections are being discussed, necessary discussions will naturally prevail and we’ll take the decisions we feel are warranted.’
For the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from 19 September to 4 October, Wijegunawardene said that experienced players like Niroshan Dickwella and Chamika Karunaratne have been considered for selection based on their experience and ability and confirmed that Sahan Arachchige would lead the Sri Lanka team.
Wijegunawardene said that several young players who have performed strongly in domestic cricket and the Lanka Premier League remained under consideration and added that vacancies in the national team were limited and selectors could not accommodate every player performing well at the same time.
He defended the non-selection of some leading domestic performers, saying selectors had to consider team balance and the specific roles required rather than statistics alone.