The Sri Lanka teams fate has overturned in a couple of months. They began their cricketing summer facing the defeat by the hands of the England but now, they thrashed the world champions Australia by 3-0.
Sri Lanka has shown a lot of promises in the longer format of the game, but now the action shifts to the colored clothing as both Sri Lanka and Australia are folding their sleeves for the 5 match ODI series, that will kick on August 21.
Recently, on 19 August Sri Lanka selectors announced their ODI squad for the first two matches against Australia and it came up with a couple of surprises. The biggest surprise came with the squad is the selection of the 18-year-old top-order batsman Avishka Fernando, who received his maiden call-up on the back of a consistence performance in the U-19 side in England.
Also, another 23-years-old left-arm spinner Amila Aponso lad got his maiden call-up for the international match. Meanwhile, Tillakaratne Dilshan made his way back into the team after missing the England tour for his personal reasons.
The veteran Dilshan is expected to again shift at the top of the order for this ODI series. The selector also included the duo of allrounder Milinda Siriwardana and Thisara Perera to provide flexibility to this team on the back of their all-around performance.
Apart from this, there come surprise axing of Suraj Randiv, Chaminda Bandara, Dasun Shanaka and Fervez Maharoof. This selection has been made keeping in mind the future aspect and all the eyes will be on the old leg of Dilshan and a few whispers are also coming that this may prove to be the last series of Dilshan.
SRI LANKA SQUAD FOR FIRST- TWO ODI MATCH AGAINST AUSTRALIA
Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Seekkuge Prasanna, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Thisara Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Avishka Fernando, Amila Aponso, Angelo Mathews (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera.
