After the Asia Cup 2018 disaster, Sri Lankan ODI and T20I skipper Angelo Mathews has been sacked from both the captaincy roles by the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and Dinesh Chandimal has been appointed for the ODI captaincy role.
SLC has taken these decisions on Sunday (September 23). The 31-year-old Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews has been requested to step down from the limited-overs’ leadership roles of the national team.
In the meantime, SLC also appointed the 28-year-old Chandimal as the Sri Lankan ODI captain who will lead the ODI side in the upcoming home ODI bilateral series against England.
Also read: The England ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour in 2018/19
SLC stated on this matter, “The national selectors on Sunday decided to appoint Dinesh Chandimal as the ODI captain to lead the team in the upcoming England series. Accordingly, they have requested Angelo Mathews to relinquish his duties as the national ODI and T20I captain, with immediate effect.”
Under Mathews’ leadership, the five-time Asia Cup winner Sri Lanka started their journey in the Asia Cup 2018 in United Arab Emirates (UAE). In their both Group B matches of the tournament, Sri Lanka suffered the big defeats. Sri Lanka lost by 137 runs in the opening game of the tournament against Bangladesh while they suffered another defeat against Afghanistan by 91 runs.
In both games, Sri Lankan cricket team heavily disappointed their fans. In result, the team even failed to reach the Super Four round and they were eliminated from the group stage.
After stepping down from the captaincy in all three formats in July 2017, Mathews was re-appointed in the ODI and T20I captaincy in this January. In this year, Mathews led the Sri Lankan side in eight ODIs and only T20I where his team managed to win only two ODI victories and one T20I victory.
On the other hand, the Test captain Chandimal has led the Sri Lankan ODI side in seven matches where his side has won five games and suffered only two defeats. However, the T20I skipper hasn’t been appointed yet.
Also read: The England Test squad for the Sri Lanka tour in 2018/19
Sri Lankan cricket’s next assignment will be the home series against England. The tourist side England will play the five-match ODI series, one-off T20I and the three-match Test series against the hosts Sri Lanka from October 10 to November 27, 2018.
