Sri Lanka announce T20I squad for South Africa series

The Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) has named a 16-member squad for the upcoming Twenty20 International series between Sri Lanka and South Africa. Lasith Malinga will continue to captain the T20I team in the three-match series as an extension to his limited-overs duty. The visiting Sri Lankan team would look forward to putting an end to their losing streak in the ongoing ODI series against the Proteas.

Sri Lanka’s poor form begun right from the start of the five-match One-Day International series wherein they’re trailing by 0-4. The hosts South Africa have already clinched the series away from the visiting Malinga-led Sri Lankan team. The ongoing ODI series has one more match to go which will be played on Saturday, March 16, at Newlands Cape Town.

Former Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews, who played his last Test match against New Zealand last year, sat out of the Test squad. His initial replacement Dinesh Chandimal was stripped off of captaincy, as the leadership duties for the two-match Test series was giving to opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne. However, a reduced Sri Lanka with the aid of remarkable batting performances won the two-match Test series 2-0 under the newly appointed skipper Karunaratne.

However, the Test triumph seems to have occurred centuries ago. Sri Lanka have lost all four ODIs as they’re headed towards the fifth and final ODI at Newlands. Following that, the three-match T20I series will commence on Tuesday, March 19 at the same venue as the 5th ODI, i.e. Cape Town.  The second and third T20I matches will be played on March 22 and 24 at the Centurion and Johannesburg, respectively.

Sri Lanka T20I squad for the South Africa series: 

Lasith Malinga (C), Niroshan Dickwella, Avishka Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Priyamal Perera, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Asitha Fernando, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lakshan Sandakan

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from South Africa vs Sri Lanka series, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.