Kusal Perera, the veteran Sri Lanka player has returned to the Sri Lanka squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against England. However, a prominent name, Lahiru Thirimanne has been left out of the squad for the Test series. Meanwhile, this is the only change to their 15-member Test squad that earlier toured to Zimbabwe for a two-Test series in January this year as well.
Kusal Perera, who was the star of Sri Lanka’s brilliant win against South Africa in Durban last year, was dropped out from the squad for the Zimbabwe tour. At that time, Sri Lanka’s chief selector Ashantha de Mel had clarified the reason where he told that he was not selected because of the selection of experienced players like Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews. Their selection meant that Kusal Perera had to be out of the squad.
However, Perera’s last Test appearance came against New Zealand in August 2019, a series which went in a rather forgettable way as he managed to score only 1, 23, 0 and 0 respectively. Because of this poor form, he was eventually left out for the Pakistan Test series and also didn’t get the chance to be in the squad for the Zimbabwe series as well.
On the other hand, the 30-year old Lahiru Thirimanne didn’t get the chance to play the Tests against Zimbabwe despite being in the squad as Sri Lanka went with Oshada Fernando to be there with the captain Dimuth Karunaratne at the top of the batting order.
However, The Sri Lanka Cricket, on Monday (March 9), has announced that they will come up with a replacement player for Wanindu Hasaranga before the first Test against England, which is all set to begin on March 19 in Galle. The second Test will take place from March 27 at the SSC in Colombo.
Sri Lanka squad:
Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lakshan Sandakan and Wanindu Hasaranga.
