Kapugedara’s last Twenty20 International for Sri Lanka came against Pakistan in June 2012
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Sri Lanka have opted to include five uncapped players – pace bower Binura Fernando, leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay and the batting trio of Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka and Dhananjaya de Silva – in their Twenty20 squad for the upcoming two-match series against Pakistan.
Making their returns to international cricket are pace bowler Nuwan Kulasekara, whose last Twenty20 International for Sri Lanka came in May 2014, and batsman Chamara Kapugedera, who last represented his country in a Twenty20 International in June 2012.
“We need to get the younger brigade in the stream, so we have a gradual transition leading up to the next World T20 and the 50-over World Cup beyond that,” chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardene said. “We need to put them on the ground and see how they perform.”
It has also been announced that batsman Lahiru Thirimanne and wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal are not part of the squad.
“Chandimal and Thirimanne needed to prepare for the upcoming India Test series which is a very important one,” Wijegunawardene said. “Off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal we are also saving for the Tests. We’re trying to manage all their workloads because we have a very busy calendar till July next year.”
Both Twenty20 Internationals will be played in Colombo on July 30 and August 1.
Sri Lanka squad: Lasith Malinga (Capt), TM Dilshan, Kusal Perera, Kithruwan Vithanage, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Chamara Kapugedera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Thisara Perera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Kulasekara, Binura Fernando, Chaturanga de Silva, Milinda Siriwardene