The Sri Lankan Board (SLC) has started the new year with some changes in the leadership of the teams, following their pitiful defeat in the ODI World Cup 2023, now they don't want to take any chance of ruining their name in the International formats.
De Silva, 32, will lead the team in the one-off Test against Afghanistan and become the 18th player to captain Sri Lanka in a men's Test. He will take over Dimuth Karunaratne, who captained the team in 30 Tests between 2019 and 2023, finishing with a record of 12 wins, 12 losses, and 6 draws.
Karunaratne's tenure as the captain began with a historic and surprising series win in South Africa, and although subsequent results were less dramatic, he did bring calm to the cricket team during a period of national upset His leadership brought out the best in him as a batsman, and his average batting average was close to 50, well above his career average of 40.
His replacement, de Silva, has been a regular member of the squad. He has so far scored 3301 runs in 51 tests at an average of approximately 40.
"I would have preferred to have the same captain for all three formats,"
"But we are unable to do that at the moment with the players we have."
~Upul Tharanga (chief selector)
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