The move comes in the wake of Sri Lanka’s underwhelming 2023 World Cup campaign, which had them win only two out of nine games and subsequently miss out on qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Their first assignment will be picking the squad for Sri Lanka’s home series against Zimbabwe in January, which will be followed by a series against Afghanistan. In the medium term they will be keeping a keen eye on the T20 World Cup in June.
The new committee, which will be in place for a two-year term, is among the youngest ever appointed to such a post at SLC. While de Saram at 50 is the oldest of the lot, Paranavitana and Dilruwan are both 41, with Tharanga and Mendis younger still at 38.
Tharanga, Dilruwan and de Saram also turned out to play first-class cricket as recently as this year. Paranavitana meanwhile last played domestically in 2020, having retired from international cricket that same year, while Mendis has followed up his 2019 retirement by frequenting the legends circuit.
As such, much of the discourse surrounding Sri Lanka’s recent form has been striking the right balance between youth and experience, and so this will likely be among the foremost areas set to be addressed by the new committee in picking their first squad.
