SL consider moving on from Asalanka as T20I captain
Sri Lanka Chief Selector Upul Tharanga on Wednesday hinted at the dismissal of Charith Asalanka as their men's team's T20I captain, stating that the former champions will have to explore "best options" after the ongoing tri-series in Pakistan.
Asalanka, who took over the captaincy in July last year, has come under increasing scrutiny for his poor run of form in T20Is, having failed to score a fifty since his 59 against the West Indies in October 2024.
His struggles persisted during the ACC Men's T20 Asia Cup 2025, where he managed only 75 runs in six innings at an average of 15. With his form dipping further, Sri Lanka’s selectors began considering potential changes ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, though chief selector Tharanga remained reluctant to make any drastic decisions.
"We have to weigh our best options after this series," said Tharanga, when asked whether the selectors were considering a change in captaincy.
"With a World Cup so close we can't make a lot of big changes. The selectors, after talking to the coach, will have to make a decision on what's best for the team."
Adding to his troubles, Asalanka fell ill and was ruled out of the ongoing T20I tri-series against hosts Pakistan and Zimbabwe, forcing Sri Lanka to call up former captain and seasoned all-rounder Dasun Shanaka to step in as stand-in leader.
Tharanga clarified that Shanaka had already been named vice-captain for the white-ball tour to Pakistan as part of their broader leadership assessment, but stressed that Asalanka remains their captain for now and no “firm decision” has been taken yet.
"That was to give us another option," Tharanga said on Shanaka's appointment as vice-captain.
"Still Charith is our captain. It's because of an illness to Charith that we appointed Dasun as our stand-in captain. 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," he added.