Sri Lanka has named uncapped off-spinner Ashian Daniel in a 19-man squad for the upcoming Indian Test series which will commence on March 4 in Mohali, India. The first India match will be Sri Lanka’s 300th test match while the second test scheduled to be played in Bengaluru from March 12th which will be a day-night test game between two countries.
Daniel, who celebrates his 21st birthday yesterday, was a former Sri Lanka Under-19 cricketer from St. Joseph’s College and fared decently during the National Super League (NSL) limited-over tournament, claiming 10 wickets in three games. He played only three matches for the Kandy team taking 10 wickets including a five-wicket haul.
Meanwhile, 32-year-old leg spinner Jeffrey Vandasay who represented only white-ball format for the national team has been called for the test squad this time considering his current performance. In addition, Niroshan Dickwella–who missed out on six months of international cricket following a ban on him and two others over breaching the bio-secure bubble during the series against England last May–has returned to the side and he is in good form with the bat during the concluded National Super League tournament Dikwella scored superb knock of 135 against Galle in his last super League game while he has played 45 test matches since his debut in 2014, scoring 2443 runs at 32.57. However, the left-hander is yet to make a century in the longer format, where he has scored 18 half-centuries, including a best of 96.
Diimuth Karunaratne was once again named for the test skipper while experienced Lahiru Thirimanne, former skipper Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal have been included for the 19 member squad.
Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella, and Dinesh Chandimal will vie for a place in the playing XI as specialist batters while frontline spinners in Praveen Jayawickrema, Lasith Embuldeniya, Ashian Daniel, and Jeffrey Vandersay along with four pace options. Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Dushmantha Chameera, and Vishwa Fernando.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan T 20 squad is expected to reach India for their 3 T20 match series which will commence on February 24 in Lucknow. Ashian Daniel is the only new player to join the Lankan T20 squad for India. India has named Rohit Sharma as captain for both Test and T 20 series against Sri Lanka while Jaspit Bumrah was named T20 vice-captain for the first time.
Sri Lanka Test squad for the Indian series: Dimuth Karunaratne (Capt), Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal, Chamika Karunaratne, Ramesh Mendis, Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Vishwa Fernando, Jeffrey Vandersay, Praveen Jayawickrema, Lasith Embuldeniya, Ashian Daniel
India Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Ravichandran Ashwin, Saurabh Kumar, Rishabh Pant, Srikar Bharat, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav.
India T20I Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Jasprit Bumrah( V.Capt) Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan