Sri Lanka Set To Sack Captain Charith Asalanka Just Before T20 World Cup: Report | Cricket News

Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka.

(AP Photo)

With only two months to go to the 2026 T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka is reportedly on the brink of being sacked by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). SLC chief selector Upul Tharanga hinted at the change in a recent press conference, though insisting that the decision is yet to be made.

The issue has been brewing since his sudden return from the ongoing tour of Pakistan. The situation escalated when Sri Lankan players expressed concern following a deadly suicide bombing in Islamabad, which revived memories of the 2009 Lahore attack on the team.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi and senior military officials provided strong security assurances, SLC warned that any player leaving the tour would face a ‘formal review’. Soon after, Asalanka and pacer Asitha Fernando returned home citing ‘illness’. Some reports in Sri Lanka suggested Asalanka, as captain, led the push for players wanting to abandon the tour, which angered the SLC.

“We have to weigh our best options after this series,” said Tharanga, when asked whether the selectors were considering a change in captaincy, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “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.”

Dasun Shanaka was appointed the captain for the T20 tri-series involving Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

“That was to give us another option,” Tharanga said. “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. Charith hasn’t been among the runs in T20s, and because of an illness he was forced to return home, unfortunately.”

Pushed about details of his illness, considering it’s not usual that players return from long tours due to small issues.

“He had a viral fever, and he had body aches,” Tharanga said of Asalanka. “The physio told us that it’s hard for him to predict when Charith would get better, and that’s why we had to make that decision.”

He added, “We’ve also had a problem in the middle order, and we’ve not been consistent there. If he couldn’t play, we needed to have someone else there. That’s why we brought Charith to Sri Lanka.”

Tharanga also said he sees Asalanka as a key part of Sri Lanka’s World Cup plans, especially with the bat.