SLC T20 League begins with focus on national players

Team Greys will take on Team Greens in the curtain raiser match of the tournament at 2.30 p.m while Team Blues will confront Team Reds in the second game of the day commencing at 7.00 p.m.

This tournament will also serve as a window for most of Sri Lanka’s up and coming players to stake their claim for national recognition with a significant performance.

In fact, Sri Lanka T20 Skipper Dasun Shanaka believes that this tournament will be the perfect preparation for the next home series against South Africa as well as for the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE.

“We want to see how well these young players perform during each match situation and what we could do to take them to the next level,” stressed Shanaka on the eve of the tournament. In addition, the tournament will also be quite significant for certain talented players who could not make the recent tours of Bangladesh, England and the home series against India.

Former Skipper Dinesh Chandimal is one of those players who will be keen to regain his place and he will be determined to lead his team SLC Reds to victory. Chandimal will have the services of some top players in the calibre of Avishka Fernando, Kusal Janith, Oshada Fernando and Asela Gunaratne, who is also on a comeback trail.

Some of the other promising players knocking on the door include the hard-hitting Sammu Ashan, Ishan Jayaratne, Lasith Croospulle and Chathuranga de Silva. Meanwhile, the following players have been shifted from the original selections: Himasha Liyanage from Team Blues to Greys, Kamil Mishara from Team Greens to Greys and Prabath Jayasuriya from Team Greys to Reds.