Veteran middle order batsman Mahela Jayawardene was today appointed as captain of the Sri Lanka team for next month’s tour of Australia.
His re-appointment as Sri Lanka captain comes after the resignation of explosive opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, who stepped down immediately their disappointing tour of South Africa, losing both the three-Test and five–match One Day International series.
Thirty-five-year-old Jayawardene, a veteran of 128 Tests and 359 ODIs, regains Sri Lanka captaincy at a crucial juncture. Since the resignation of Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka has lost four successive Test series and fared miserably in all ODI series after the last ICC World Cup. Dilshan, who was under tremendous pressure due to various reasons, finally decided to step down though he regained his form as a batsmen by the last two ODIs in South Africa with back to back half centuries.
Leading Sri Lanka is nothing new for Jayawardene who had aggregated over 10,000 runs in both forms of international cricket. He had a successful stint as Sri Lanka captain before an injury forced him to pave way for Sangakkara.