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Sri Lanka’s captain Dhananjaya de Silva aims to inspire his team for the new World Test Championship cycle, drawing motivation from South Africa’s recent WTC final win.
Dhananjaya de Silva (L) wanted to be a final participant at Lord’s. (AFP Photo)
As Sri Lanka prepared for their two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which begins the new cycle of the World Test Championship, captain Dhananjaya de Silva was closely following the WTC 2023/25 final between Australia and South Africa at Lord’s in London.
Although de Silva monitored every twist and turn in the hard-fought encounter that South Africa won to claim the WTC Mace for the first time, he watched the proceedings with a sense of regret. With a bit of luck and stronger performances, Sri Lanka could have been one of the finalists of the WTC 2023-25.
Now, inspired by South Africa’s triumph at Lord’s, the Sri Lankan skipper is aiming for a similar victory in the new World Test Championship cycle. De Silva is motivating his team to draw inspiration from the Proteas’ ICC World Test Championship 2025 Final success as they gear up for the start of the next WTC cycle.
Sri Lanka had a decent chance of qualifying for the prestigious event at Lord’s in the recently concluded cycle. Their path to the final was clear: win three out of their remaining four Tests. Two of these crucial matches were at home against Australia, while the other two posed a tough challenge away against South Africa. However, they ultimately finished a disappointing sixth in the standings after suffering heavy defeats in all four of those decisive matches.
For de Silva, this is the first World Test Championship cycle where he is leading the team from the very beginning, and he is determined to make the most of the opportunity.
“We had a big chance to get to the final, but unfortunately, we couldn’t do it,” de Silva told reporters on the eve of the first Test against Bangladesh.
“Even yesterday, when I talked to the boys, I reminded them where we could have been (at Lord’s this week), and where we ended up.
“As we start a new cycle, we know we have to win our home series. We need to pick up all those points. It’s a great opportunity to start a new cycle with a home series.”
This cycle presents a significant challenge for Sri Lanka. With Dimuth Karunaratne already retired and Angelo Mathews set to leave the format after the first Test, the team faces some setbacks.
Despite these challenges, Dhananjaya de Silva remains focused on the task ahead and wants his team to concentrate on winning as many matches as possible from the 12 scheduled Tests Sri Lanka will play in this cycle.
The squad for the two Tests against Bangladesh includes six uncapped players, many of whom were selected based on strong domestic performances.
“We need to prepare for the situations that we do get. We’ve had a good National Super League (Sri Lanka’s premier first-class tournament) recently, and we’ve had good preparation through that. We’ve also identified a few good youngsters through that. We’re looking to embark on this next journey with them,” said de Silva.
Sri Lanka will take on Bangladesh in the first of the two Tests starting Tuesday (June 17), marking the beginning of the ICC World Test Championship 25-27 cycle.
(With IANS Inputs)
- Location :
Galle, Sri Lanka
- First Published:
