Rangana Herath will captain the Sri Lanka team for the first Test against India, after Dinesh Chandimal was ruled out of the opening match due to illness. Sri Lanka named a 15-man squad for the opening Test match, which begins in Galle on Wednesday.
Herath, who seems to grow from strength to strength even as he gets closer and closer to hitting 40, will lead Sri Lanka against the No.1 ranked India side, with Chandimal, who only just replaced Angelo Mathews as the captain, recently hospitalised due to pneumonia.
The new Sri Lanka captain will have another left-arm spinner to make use of if he thinks it necessary after Malinda Pushpakumara was given a call-up to the squad.
Pushpakumara is yet to play a Test match for Sri Lanka, despite being one of the more prolific bowlers in the domestic circuit. That, of course, is primarily because there is a certain left-arm spinner called Herath in the Sri Lanka lineup.
Lakshan Sandikan is the spinner who makes way for Pushpakumara, while Sri Lanka have made two further changes to their squad.
Fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep returns to the lineup after a hamstring injury, with the pacer replacing the speedy Dushmantha Chameera in the 15-man squad.
Chandimal's place in the Sri Lanka team has been taken by Dhananjaya de Silva.
This will be the second Test series between the two teams in a couple of years, with India winning the last one with a come-from-behind 2-1 result.
In that series, though, India lost the opening Test in Galle, when Chandimal struck a quite astonishing 162.
So, India will be glad to see Chandimal missing from the Sri Lanka lineup for the opening Test, although it must also be said that this Indian cricket team is completely different from the one from two years ago. Virat Kohli was still a novice captain, leading the Test team for the first time in a full Test series. This India team, though, is the number one ranked side in the world, and will start the series as the favourites.
Sri Lanka will hope, even without Chandimal, they can find the firepower to trump India. Much will depend on the experience of Herath, Mathews and Upul Tharanga, while, as India found out in the Champions Trophy, the home team also have extremely talented players in Kusal Mendis, Asela Gunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella.
Sri Lanka squad: Rangana Herath (C), Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Asela Gunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya de Silva, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dilruwan Perera, Malinda Pushpakumara, Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando.
