Sri Lanka Announce Squad For ICC World Cup 2019

Sri Lanka, on Thursday, named their 15-man squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019. Dimuth Karunaratne, who has not played an ODI since 2015 World Cup will lead the Islanders in the mega event. On Wednesday, Sri Lanka sacked Lasith Malinga as the captain to give the position to Karunaratne. The left-handed batsman had recently led Sri Lanka to a Test series in South Africa.

Lahiru Thirimanne, spin-bowling allrounders Milinda Siriwardana and Jeevan Mendis as well as Jeffrey Vandersay have made it to the squad too, All the aforementioned players have not played an ODI since at least 2017. At the same time there are also some big names who have missed out. Such names are Niroshan Dickwella, Akila Dananjaya, Danushka Gunathilaka and Upul Tharanga. Former captain Dinesh Chandimal has also failed to make it to the squad.

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Veteran pacer Lasith Malinga has also been named in the squad too but it would be interesting to see whether he plays the World Cup. Recent media reports suggested that Malinga has made up his mind on retiring from the game after being removed as the captain.

Sri Lanka squad for ICC #CWC19 ?? pic.twitter.com/d0WGDzVqJ7

— Sri Lanka Cricket ?? (@OfficialSLC) April 18, 2019

Sri Lanka, nonetheless, have endured a torrid time in recent years especially in ODIs. In 84 ODIs since the last World Cup, they have won 23 and lost 55. They have not won a single bilateral ODI series since May 2016. In their last outing, South Africa thrashed them 5-0. The Islanders, however, will take confidence from their performance in recent World Cups. They made it to the final of the 2007 and 2011 editions before making it to the quarterfinal in 2015.

The forthcoming World Cup will start on May 30. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will kickstart their campaign against New Zealand on June 1.

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Sri Lanka squad:

Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal