Sri Lanka changed their T20I captain with the 2026 T20 World Cup just round the corner. Here's why.
Dasun Shanaka takes over from Charith Asalanka
With less than two months to go for the men's T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka decided to change their captain, replacing Charith Asalanka with Dasun Shanaka.
Shanaka returns to the helm as Sri Lanka's most experienced T20I captain: he has led them in 53 matches (Dinesh Chandimal and Asalanka are next with 26 and 25 respectively) since he took over full-time from Lasith Malinga in 2021, five months before Asalanka even made his T20I debut.
Back to Asalanka's captaincy: he took up the role full-time after the 2024 T20 World Cup, replacing Wanindu Hasaranga, who quit six months into the job. The same month, he was also named ODI captain.
Under his full-time captaincy, Sri Lanka won 10 matches, lost 11 and tied two, losing series to India, New Zealand, Bangladesh, and failing to make it to the 2025 Asia Cup final.
Crucially though, in the same period, Asalanka’s form fell off: he averaged 16.44, striking at 124.89 with one fifty in 21 innings.
While that might have prompted a change, making it so close to the World Cup is still quite interesting.
Reports of a potential sacking first emerged in November, when Shanaka was made vice-captain, perceived as a move to bring him back into the captaincy mix. At that time, chair of selectors Upul Tharanga denied that a change was imminent.
"We have to weigh our best options after this series," he said. "With a World Cup so close we can't make a lot of big changes".
Was form the only reason for Asalanka's removal?
Speculation around Asalanka grew after he flew back home along with Asitha Fernando, ahead of the Pakistan tri-series, linking it to reports of certain players’ eagerness to return home following a bomb blast in Islamabad.
However, Sri Lanka Cricket maintained it was due to an illness. “This precautionary decision ensures they (Asalanka and Fernando) receive proper care and sufficient time to recover ahead of future assignments."
This was after Sri Lanka had firmly told players to stay in Sri Lanka or risk a "formal review".
“If any player, players, or member of the support staff return despite SLC’s directives, a formal review will be conducted … and an appropriate decision will be made,” the board had said.
In Asalanka's absence, Shanaka promptly stepped in to lead the side.
Tharanga insisted Asalanka's return to Sri Lanka was due to viral fever and body aches. "Still Charith is our captain. It's because of an illness to Charith that we appointed Dasun as our stand-in captain," Tharanga said later in November. "Charith is still the captain in our plans. We haven't made a decision to change that. We've planned all along for Charith to captain this World Cup. We'll see what happens. We haven't made a decision about that yet."
A few weeks later, Sri Lanka Cricket officially announced that Shanaka will be taking over at least until the end of the T20 World Cup.
Interestingly, that selection committee's term also expired last month. The new chief selector Pramodya Wickramasinghe said the decision was made after consulting head coach Sanath Jayasuriya, and choosing the same 25-member preliminary squad selected by the previous committee.
Under Shanaka’s previous stint, Sri Lanka won the 2022 Asia Cup, but didn’t make it to the T20 World Cup semi-final that year (or in the previous year).
Asalanka is part of the preliminary squad for the T20 World Cup, and is set to feature in the three-match T20I series against Pakistan that precedes that.
It’s still unclear which way the new selection committee wants to go long-term, and how much Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup performance could impact that.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
