Sri Lanka have appointed their star batting allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva as captain in Test cricket to replace Dimuth Karunaratne. The appointment makes Dhananjaya the 18th player in history to captain Sri Lanka in the red-ball format.
The changing of the guard comes into the picture following Sri Lanka's 2-0 defeat at home at the start of their campaign in the World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle. Playing at home, the Lankan Lions were expected to emerge victorious against the then Babar Azam-led side but they were outplayed by the visitors and lost the first match in Galle by four wickets and the second at the SSC (Sinhalese Sports Club) in Colombo by a staggering margin of an innings and 222 runs.
Notably, Karunaratne had expressed the desire to leave the mantle of captaincy in March 2023 as he wanted a new leader to guide the team during the WTC 2023-25 cycle.
"I've talked with the selectors about stepping down as captain after the Ireland series. In the next WTC cycle, you've got to do two years. I think it's best if a new captain does that whole cycle than for me to do half and hand over. I've talked to the selectors about this, but I haven't got a response yet. My preference is to hand over to a new leader after the next series," Karunaratne was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo back then.
Meanwhile, Dhananjaya, now, has a tough task at hand. His first overseas assignment as captain will be a stern test in the form of a three-match series against England in England in August.
Though Dhananjaya is a fairly experienced campaigner with 51 Tests in his kitty, he is yet to captain Sri Lanka in an international game. The 32-year-old has amassed 3301 runs in the longest format of the sport with the help of 10 centuries and 13 fifties.
