Chandimal set to be dropped

Dimuth Karunaratne to lead Test team in South Africa

Dinesh Chandimal is set to be dropped for the forthcoming Test series against South Africa.

According to highly placed sources, the selectors will name Dimuth Karunaratne as new captain when they meet to pick the squad for the South Africa tour.

The team will have huge changes and many new faces from “A” team will be selected for the South Africa tour, it is also learnt. The players selected from the present side will leave directly from Australia to Durban (via Sydney) on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka is scheduled to play two Tests, five ODIS and two T20s in South Africa.

The Chandimal-led Sri Lankan team had unhappy memories of the Independence Day on Monday, when they lost the second Test with over four sessions to spare.

“Sadly the pep-talks given to the players didn’t work”, Harin Fernando, the Sports Minister, who was at the ground on all four days, said over telephone.

“I personally spoke to coaches and boys one to one. I have told them to just keep moving forward.”

“Yes, I did speak to Hathurusingha and one more sitting with him is scheduled,” he added.

“There were two main factors for revoking Hathurusingha’s selection power.

First, I wanted him to concentrate on the players rather than worrying about the selection. And secondly,

I did not want the single deciding factor on team selection,” the Minister also said.