Dinesh Chandimal ruled out of first Test against India

Following Angelo Mathews’ decision to step down as the captain of the Sri Lankan national team, Dinesh Chandimal was elected as the stand-in captain. However, the newly appointed skipper will not be able to lead his country in the upcoming first Test against India after being diagnosed with pneumonia. The 27-year-old wicketkeeper has been ruled out of the first Test against the Men in Blue.

Chandimal started his innings as a captain with flying colours. The flamboyant batsman kicked of his captaincy on a winning note, registering a memorable record win over Zimbabwe in the one-off Test. According to recent reports, in Chandimal’s absence, Rangana Herath is most likely to be appointed the as the interim captain to lead the side.

Chandimal has prior experience of leading, having captained the Sri Lankan ‘A’ side, before. He also became the country’s youngest Test captain at the age of 25, after he succeeded Mahela Jayawardene in 2003. Prior to his appointment as skipper in the Test format, the right-hander was already skippering the side in the limited overs format before making the switch in the longest format

Mathews had a disappointing year as a captain

Ex-Lankan captain Angelo Mathews stepped down from the helm after he revealed his ambiguity to lead the side at the 2019 World Cup. The Angelo Mathews led side displayed a depleted performance against the visitors, Zimbabwe. The African minnows created history by beating Sri Lanka 3-2 in the 5 match ODI series to win their first overseas triumph in eight years.

A poor performance from the subcontinental team under the leadership of Mathews and put his captaincy under significant pressure. The defeat at Hambantota was the second instance in the series when Sri Lanka failed to defend 300 plus runs

Also previously, there was a lot of ongoing debate regarding Mathews’ future as captain after the side’s 3-0 whitewash in South Africa.