The national selectors have included two uncapped players, fast-bowler Lahiru Gamage and wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella in the 15-man squad for the first three ODI’s to be played in India.
Sri Lanka will tour India at the end of October to fill the void left by West Indies as their players pulled out of their ongoing tour because of a payments structure dispute with WICB and WIPA.
Both Gamage and Dickwella have been prominent members of the Sri Lanka ‘A’ one day squad while Dickwella has played 3 Tests matches against South Africa and Pakistan. 26-year old Gamage represents Chilaw Marians CC in the Sri Lankan domestic league and he has been playing Sri Lanka ‘A’ cricket for several years and recently he was rewarded with a call-up to the Sri Lanka Test squad as a replacement during the Pakistan series though he was not selected in the final XI. Gamage is a tall and lanky right arm seamer who can extract substantial bounce with the help of the surface and with the World Cup in Australia around the corner, Gamage would be definitely itching to put up a noteworthy performance in India. The notable absentees from the squad are, Vice-captain Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal. Lahiru Gamage has been named as the replacement for the injured Lasith Malinga while Rangana Herath has been rested with Chathuranga De Silva taking his place in the squad. Opening batsman Kusal Janith Perera has also made a return to the Lankan ODI squad after nursing a hamstring injury.
Squad:
Angelo Mathews (Capt)
Kusal Janith Perera
T.M Dilshan
Upul Tharanga
Kumar Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardena
Ashan Priyanjan
Niroshan Dickwella
Thisara Perera
Nuwan Kulasekara
Dhammika Prasad
Lahiru Gamage
Chathuranga De Silva
Seekuge Prasanna
Suraj Randiv
