Sri Lanka name young squad for Test series against West Indies

Sri Lanka will be banking on the experience of Rangana Herath to guide them to their first series victory in three attempts

Sri Lanka have announced their squad for the 2-match Test series against West Indies, starting October 14 in Galle, reports ESPN Cricinfo. The squad has a couple of notable names in the form of batting all-rounder Milinda Siriwardana and 20-year-old former Sri Lankan Under-19 captain, Kusal Mendis.

Siriwardana’s decent showing in the ODI series against Pakistan earned him a much-deserved call-up to the Test side while Mendis’ selection did raise a few eyebrows. Mendis was the captain of the Sri Lankan Under-19 team for the Youth World Cup last year, but his first-class performances since the tournament has been far from impressive.

The wicketkeeper-batsman showed glimpses of his form in the recent Moin-ud-Dowlah tournament in India, scoring 255 runs in 3 innings, including a hundred, which made the selectors sit up and take notice of the youngster. Sri Lankan chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardana was impressed with the performance of the youngster and said that he had the necessary skills.

"Kusal Mendis has been on our radar for a while, we felt that he earned a spot in the Test squad with the way he has been batting, and the way he batted on the recent tour to India. All the selectors have assessed his skill levels to be quite good and are backing him," he said.

Notable omissions from the squad which suffered consecutive series reverses against Pakistan and India were Upul Tharanga and out-of-form batsman Jehan Mubarak. Tharindu Kaushal, who was recently banned from bowling doosras, was retained in the squad, thus boosting the spin bowling department which also has the likes of Rangana Herath and youngster Dilruwan Perera.

Suranga Lakmal will be back after returning from injury and will join as the fourth seamer in the squad. Angelo Mathews will continue as the skipper while Lahiru Thirimanne will offer support as the vice-captain.

Sri Lanka will mark a new beginning in cricket, as they will be without their beloved former wicketkeeper-batsman, the legendary Kumar Sangakkara, who recently retired from International cricket, during the series against India. The onus will be on the young guns in the squad to prove themselves and cement their place in the years to come.

Sri Lanka squad:

Angelo Mathews (captain), Lahiru Thirimanna (vice-captain), Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Janith Perera, Milinda Siriwardena, Kusal Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Tharundu Kaushal, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal and Dushmantha Chameera.