Dhananjaya ruled out of T20 World Cup tournament

Due to Dhananjaya de Silva's unsuccessful performance in the match held the day before the final day for naming players for the T20 World Cup Cricket tournament, he has been removed from the squad and Kamindu Mendis has been called up instead. Although the World Cup squad was not officially announced until yesterday (February 1) evening, a spokesperson for Sri Lanka Cricket, commenting on this last-minute change, stated that the objectives expected by calling Dhananjaya into the team were not met.

Dhananjaya de Silva was recalled to the T20 arena after two years, with the aim of overcoming the long-standing weaknesses in Sri Lanka's middle-order batting, during the series against Pakistan last January. However, in the three matches he had the opportunity to play, he could only score low totals of 10, 22, and 11 runs. Although Dhananjaya was not included in the international batting rankings due to not having played for two years, Kamindu Mendis, who joins the team in his place, is ranked 93rd in those rankings.

Out of the 18 T20 matches played by the Sri Lankan team in the past year (2025), only 9 were won, while 8 losses were recorded, causing the team to drop to 8th place in the rankings. The main reason for this setback, the failure of the middle order, was clearly confirmed in the match held last Friday (30). In that match, after the first 8 overs, Sri Lanka was in a strong position with 79 runs for 2 wickets, but the last 7 wickets of the innings fell within 54 runs, limiting the total score to 133.

Due to this failure of the team, the captaincy was removed from Charith Asalanka last November and re-assigned to Dasun Shanaka. It is expected that all-rounder Kamindu Mendis, who joins the team with the new changes, will be assigned the same responsibilities that were previously planned for Dhananjaya de Silva. Accordingly, the responsibility of batting at number 4 and bowling all 4 overs will be assigned to Kamindu, who has the ability to bowl with both hands.

Meanwhile, Pramod Madushan, who was used as a substitute for Dushmantha Chameera in the first two matches of the series against England, has also been removed from the World Cup squad. The Sri Lanka World Cup squad, awaiting official approval from the Minister of Sports, includes Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Pawan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Matheesha Pathirana, and Eshan Malinga.