Karunaratne in contention for Sri Lanka’s WC captaincy

London: Dimuth Karunaratne upcoming stint with the Hampshire county may get cancelled, as Sri Lanka’s selectors are considering him to take over the ODI captaincy for the World Cup. He is the current Captain of the Sri Lanka Test Cricket Team. He is a left-handed pink ball specialist who represent the country in both Tests and ODIs.
“The selectors have not confirmed anything, but they’ve told me to keep in mind there’s a possibility I could become one-day captain, they have asked me to stay back for the provincial tournament. If I get picked for the World Cup squad, there will be camps and training after that as well, so I might not be able to go to Hampshire in those months,” ESPN Cricinfo quoted Karunaratne as saying.
Hampshire had signed Karunaratne as their overseas player in the month of February but the Sri Lankan cricket board has now asked the player to stay in Sri Lanka till April in order to play the provincial one-day tournament, during which his performance will be assessed by the national selectors.Sri Lanka were whitewashed by South Africa in the five-match ODI series and their current captain Lasith Malinga is yet to yield a victory for his team in nine matches, as a result causing the selectors to consider someone else as the captain.Karunaratne has not done his chances any harm as he hit a 109-run knock off just 115 deliveries for Sinhalese Sports Club in the semi-final of the Premier limited over tournament on Sunday. (ANI)