Sri Lanka Likely to Change T20I Captain as Charith Asalanka Faces Uncertainty for 2026 World Cup
Former Sri Lankan cricketer Upul Tharanga, who is now the chief selector, said that Sri Lanka Cricket might take away the T20I captaincy from Charith Asalanka. Sri Lanka will host the 2026 T20 World Cup along with India from February 7 to March 8.
Tharanga didn’t clearly say that Asalanka will lose the captaincy, but he hinted that a change could happen if the selection committee decides so in the coming days.
"We have to weigh our best options after this series. With a World Cup so close, we can't make a lot of big changes. The selectors, after talking to the coach, will have to make a decision on what's best for the team," stated Asalanka, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Sri Lanka May Change T20I Captain, But Asalanka Still in World Cup Plans
The former left-handed batter explained why Dasun Shanaka was chosen as the standby captain for Sri Lanka in the ongoing T20I tri-series in Pakistan, when Asalanka isn’t available. He also admitted that Shanaka hasn’t really performed well with the bat in T20Is so far.
"Charith is still our captain. It's because of an illness to him that we appointed Dasun as our stand-in captain. Charith is still the captain in our plans. We haven't made a decision to change that. We've planned all along for Charith to captain this World Cup. We'll see what happens. We haven't made a decision about that yet. Charith hasn't been among the runs in T20Is, and because of an illness, he was forced to return home," he added.
However, despite all the talk about his T20I captaincy, Tharanga said clearly that Asalanka will still be in their plans for the big tournament next year. Charith Asalanka has scored 1,357 runs in 70 T20I matches with a strike rate of 126.35. He doesn’t bowl much in this format, but he has taken 7 wickets, giving runs at an economy rate of 7.98.
"Charith is a very talented cricketer, with a lot of experience. I'm sure he'll be an important cricketer for Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup. We've seen what he can do in the middle order, where sometimes he's won games by himself. He's in our World Cup plans," concluded Tharanga.
