Dhananjaya de Silva announced on Thursday that he is stepping down as Sri Lanka’s Test captain. The 35-year-old left the role right away, saying he wanted to give younger players a chance to lead the team.
He will still be available to play for the team. De Silva became captain in January 2024 and led the side for more than two years. He shared his decision to step down in a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket’s selection committee.
“It’s my genuine opinion that the mantle should go down to the next generation,” de Silva said in a letter addressed to Sri Lanka’s selection committee.
Ashley de Silva, the CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket, thanked Dhananjaya for his contribution in the longest format.
“Sri Lanka Cricket wishes him the very best for the remainder of his career and thanks him for the leadership he provided to our Test team.”
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The 35-year-old played 69 Tests and scored over 4,400 runs, including 13 centuries. De Silva led Sri Lanka in 18 Tests after taking over from Dimuth Karunaratne. The island nation won seven of those matches. As captain, he scored 1130 runs at an average of 36.45 and took nine wickets. During his tenure, he led Sri Lanka to series wins over Afghanistan and New Zealand at home, while outclassing Bangladesh both at home and away.
Sri Lanka 7th at WTC points table
The ongoing World Test Championship isn’t going well for Sri Lanka, as they have won only one of six matches and are almost out of contention to qualify for the final. With De Silva stepping down from the role, the new skipper taking charge won’t have much pressure in this cycle and will have some time during the transition phase.
Sri Lanka will play two Tests in Pakistan, with the first starting in Rawalpindi on November 9 and the second beginning in Lahore on November 17.