Dinesh Chandimal to lead Sri Lankan ODI team

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The National Selectors decided yesterday (September 23) to appoint Dinesh Chandimal as the ODI captain to lead the team in the upcoming England series. The move comes right after Mathews had attracted a hail of public criticism over the team's performance in the Asia Cup 2018, where they were knocked out following first-round defeats to both Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Chandimal, meanwhile, has had good results as Test captain since last October but has been modest in ODIs over the past two years, having hit only one half-century in the format since September 2016. Despite Chandimal's chequered ODI record, as well as a poor career strike rate of 73.82 across 126 innings, coach Hathurusingha has expressed hope that he can help Chandimal transform into a good ODI player. Sri Lanka's only ODI trophy since the start of 2017 was won under the captaincy of Chandimal. In January, Sri Lanka won a tri-series featuring Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and he had served as acting captain through the majority of the tournament, including in the final, as Mathews had been injured at the time.