Dinesh Chandimal (right) was named Sri Lanka’s captain for their Twenty20 International series against New Zealand after a chronic knee injury ruled Lasith Malinga out.
Malinga is absent from the One-Day International series too, which Sri Lanka trail 0-2 with three games to go. He has not played a game since taking two wickets in the first T20I against West Indies at home in November.
Chandimal first became Sri Lanka’s T20I captain in 2013 and led the country in 12 games for eight wins. Malinga took over from him when Chandimal was suspended during the 2014 World Twenty20, and led the team to the title.
While Suranga Lakmal was named Malinga’s replacement for the two T20Is, Danushka Gunathilaka came in for the suspended Kusal Perera.
Perera tested positive for a banned substance earlier this month, and faces a four-year ban after his B sample too tested positive. Gunathilaka has played three ODIs, two of them in the current series. The first T20I is at Mount Maunganui on January 7 before the teams travel to Auckland for the final game of the bilateral series, which also included two Tests, on January 10.
Axar not bothered by
competition from Jadeja
In-form Axar Patel feels fully ready for his second tour of Australia and is not losing sleep over the close competition between him and Ravindra Jadeja for the India’s number one left-arm spinner’s role in the five ODIs Down Under.
Patel could not have made a stronger case for his inclusion in the playing eleven for the first ODI on January 12, after he helped Gujarat win their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy by lapping up 19 wickets in nine matches at 14.63.
However, it will be hard for MS Dhoni to pick him as R Ashwin’s spin partner over Jadeja, who made a roaring return to international cricket in the Test series against South Africa and is now in both the ODI and T20 squads for the Australia tour.
“There is always going to be competition when you are playing for India but it has not come in the way of the personal rapport I share with some of the team members. Jaddu bhai (Jadeja) is back so there is going to be competition as most likely there will be only one left-arm spinner in the playing eleven. But that is how it is. It is nice that he is back in all formats. We are both from Gujarat and it is always fun to be in his company,” Patel said.
The selectors are trying out different players for the three T20 Internationals in Australia and Patel, who earned his India cap courtesy a stellar showing in IPL 2014, is disappointed to miss out from the T20 squad.
“It is disappointing obviously. The World T20 is around the corner and it would have been good to play three matches in Austral,” he said.
Chandimal
