Former International Upul Tharanga’s tenure as Sri Lanka Men’s Team’s chief selector has reportedly failed to impress Island’s Sports Minister Sunil Kumara Gamage as well as the Cricket Board, which has decisively ruled him out for a second term possibility!
The present selection committee headed Tharanga and comprising former national players Ajantha Mendis, Tharanga Paranavithana, Indika de Saram and Dilruwan Perera was appointed in December 2023, following Sri Lanka’s disastrous 2023 ICC World Cup campaign, where they finished second from the bottom of the table with 2 wins and 7 losses and failed to qualify for a place in the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time in their history.
Under the Tharanga-led selection committee, Sri Lanka’s has had a decent run and a significant turnaround in its fortunes, including several impressive series wins. An ODI series victory against India, Series wins in both ODIs and T20Is against the West Indies, a historic away Test victory against England and a Test series victory against New Zealand promised the much-needed revival of Sri Lanka Cricket.
However, many selection blunders, mainly picking of 5 fast bowlers including two useless allrounders for the recent Asia Cup, have reportedly not gone well with both Sports Minister and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
Tharanga and his committee faced accusations of making last-minute changes to the team due to pressure from politicians and former sports ministers. For instance, a former sports minister influenced the last-minute inclusion of Dasun Shanaka in the ODI squad against Zimbabwe in January 2024, despite his poor form.
The committee has also been criticized for erratic decision-making, such as including and then removing players like Wanindu Hasaranga from the squad. This caused frustration among both players and fans.
Tharanga and Co. also mishandled promising young talent. A specific example includes playing Kamindu Mendis, a capable middle-order batter, lower down the order, which forced him to change his batting style. Similarly, they allegedly tried to force Nuwanidu Fernando, a strong Test and ODI player, into the T20 format.
Some critics also argue that the committee showed undue preference for older players and failed to give adequate opportunities to deserving young cricketers.
Tharanga and his committee’s two-year term comes to an end in December and SLC is in the process of notifying its stakeholders to nominate names to be included in the next selection panel.
Cricket Age understands that In all probability it will be a new selection panel that will be picking the Sri Lanka squad for the next ICC T20 World Cup which will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka from 7 February to 8 March.
