COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara will travel to Australia for the T20 World Cup in a squad largely unchanged from the island nation’s surprise Asia Cup win, selectors said Friday.

Matheesha Pathirana, who debuted last month at the Dubai competition, and Asitha Fernando were dropped from the 15-man squad to make room for the more seasoned duo.

Chameera and Kumara will play subject to fitness as both are recovering from injuries, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.

The rest of the squad captained by Dasun Shanaka comprises players from the extended squad for that tournament, while they named standby players in Ashen Bandara, Praveen Jayawickrema, Dinesh Chandimal, Binura Fernando and Nuwanidu Fernando.

Sri Lanka had to abandon plans to host the Asia Cup due to political unrest.

They bounced back from an embarrassing opening defeat by Afghanistan to win the tournament on Sunday with a commanding 23-run win over Pakistan.

Sri Lanka, who won the T20 World Cup in 2014, have two warm-up games in Melbourne before they begin their World Cup campaign with a qualifying match against Namibia on Oct. 16.

Squad: Dasun Shanaka (captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka, Pramod Madushan.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2022