New white-ball captain for Sri Lanka ahead of the tour of West Indies; Shanaka and Asalanka removed

Wicketkeeper batsman Kusal Mendis is the new man at the helm. The Test leadership stays with Dhananjaya de Silva.

Updated on: May 25, 2026, 21:43:00 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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Sri Lanka have unveiled a new white-ball captain ahead of their full tour of the West Indies starting next month and running up to the first week of July.

One more responsibility comes Kusal Mendis' way! (AFP)

Dasun Shanaka, who is playing for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and played an important hand in their play-off securing win against Mumbai Indians on Sunday, has been removed from T20I captaincy. The Sri Lankan team, playing under him in the T20 World Cup earlier this year at home, failed to reach the semis. Although Shanaka played a blistering innings against Pakistan in their last Super-8 game, it wasn't enough to take them over the line. However, he has retained a place in the T20I squad.

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Charith Asalanka, meanwhile, has been removed from ODI captaincy. Asalanka was also part of the T20 World Cup, but now he has been dropped from the shortest-format squad. In the ODI team, though, he stays. And the man who replaces them both as the new T20I and ODI captain is none other than wicketkeeper batsman Kusal Mendis.

De Silva stays as Test captain!

There is no change in the Test leadership role. Dhananjaya de Silva will captain the team in the Test series. The Lankans play three ODIs (June 3, 6 and 8), three T20Is (June 12, 14 and 15) and two Tests (from June 25-29 and July 3-7).

In one piece of good news for Sri Lanka, spin-bowling allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga returns from injury to make both T20I and ODI squads. He injured himself during the T20 World Cup and consequently also missed the Indian Premier League for Rishabh Pant's Lucknow Super Giants, who finished bottom of the table with four wins and 10 defeats.

Test squad:

Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Kamindu Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Udara, Nishan Madushka, Dinesh Chandimal, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Sonal Dinusha, Kusal Mendis, Milan Rathnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Isitha Wijesundara, Kasun Rajitha

ODI squad:

Kusal Mendis (captain), Kamindu Mendis (vice-capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Pavan Rathnayake, Janith Liyanage, Charith Asalanka, Milan Rathnayake, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Asitha Fernando, Pramod Madushan

T20I squad:

Kusal Mendis (captain), Kamindu Mendis (vice-capt), Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Pavan Rathnayake, Lasith Croospulle, Dasun Shanaka, Milan Rathnayake, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka, Eshan Malinga, Binura Fernando, Nuwan Thushara

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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