Lakmal to Captain Sri Lanka in England Tests

Sri Lankan Test captain Dinesh Chandimal has been ruled out of cricketing action for around two weeks with a groin injury and is set to be replaced by their pacer Suranga Lakmal as captain for the England Tests. The same has been confirmed by the cricket board. Charith Asalanka who was not earlier named in the standby list has now been named as Chandimal’s replacement in the squad.

Chandimal suffered a groin strain during play on the 1st day of the 1st test match of the series at the Galle International Cricket Stadium. He was then kept under observation and was not ruled out of the game. On Day 2 of the same match, Chandimal also took a catch to dismiss England’s all-rounder Sam Curran on 48 standing at first slip.

“Captain Dinesh Chandimal; who suffered a groin strain during the 1st day of the 1st test match will be out for two weeks. Charith Asalanka comes in as the replacement. Asalanka was not in the standby list. In the absence of Chandimal, the test team will be captained by Suranga Lakmal,” said Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in their press release.

Asalanka has pipped players like Kusal Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne (who were earlier named in the stand by list) to make it to the Test squad. He had scores of 8 and 64-ball 68 (retired out) in the two 2-day warm-up games against England before the start of the ongoing 3-match Test series.

Suranga Lakmal in his short span as Sri Lanka Test captain has maintained a 100% winning rate. He has led Sri Lanka to big wins in the 3 Test matches he captained them, all in the year 2018. Under Lakmal’s Test captaincy, Sri Lanka defeated West Indies at Bridgetown in June by a margin of 4 wickets in the 3rd Test match to level the 3-match series.

Later, Sri Lanka clean swept South Africa in the 2-match Test series in July winning the both games by a margin of 278 runs at Galle and 199 runs at SSC in Colombo respectively. After such a heart breaking loss in the 1st Test match against England, Lakmal now has a hard task at hand of bringing Sri Lanka back on track in the series.

England won the 1st Test match at Galle of the ongoing 3-match Test series against Sri Lanka to go up 1-0 in the series. The 2nd Test match will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium starting from Wednesday (Nov 14).

Keep reading ReadScoops.com for similar updates on the England tour of Sri Lanka 2018.

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