Dimuth Karunaratne, the run-machine of Sri Lanka in test cricket, is all set to lead his team in this year’s World Cup replacing current captain Lasith Malinga, Cricket Age reliably learns.
The Mega event will be held in England and Wales from May 30 to July 14, 2019. featuring ten teams.
According to sources, the continues failure of Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Malinga has prompted selectors to take the decision.
Since his international comeback, Malinga has played 14 shorter format games and Sri Lanka could not win a single match. Out of those, in 7 matches, he has captained the side.
Cricket Age understand that, as the world cup is around the corner, Sports Minister Harin Fernando and the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) have also given green signal to selectors to remove Malinga as captain and hand over it to Karunaratne.
“The board has planned some 50 over games, featuring
four provincial teams. After the tournament, Dimuth will most probably be named as Sri Lanka captain for the World Cup” a top SLC Official told Cricket Age.
Dimuth has been in form of his life in test cricket in last three years, having topped the batting chart as an opener during the period. Not only for Sri Lanka, he has been the most successful test opener in world Cricket since last three years. Fittingly, he was recently awarded the test captaincy against South Africa and immediately pulled off a miracle by winning the trophy 2-0. The victory has already been regarded as one of the biggest upset in World Cricket history.
Though, One of the best batsmen in test cricket, Dimuth’s ODI career is not that much promising. He has only played 17 ODIs for Sri Lanka with a mediocre average of 15. He has played his last ODI four years ago, in March 2015.
However, more than his batting prowess in ODI cricket, the selectors are looking at his leadership qualities. During the South Africa tests, Team looked united and spirited, which were lacking in the Sri Lanka dressing room since last two years. Under his captaincy, team’s younger players played with freedom and enjoyed their game, which has become a rarity in Sri Lanka cricket!
