Jaffer has a hilarious take on Sri Lanka's reported sixth captaincy change in less than four years
The 29-year-old Dasun Shanaka will become Sri Lanka's sixth captain in less than four years if he gets the job.
Sri Lanka are set to make another captaincy change ahead of their series against India that starts later this month. Kusal Perera is the captain of the limited-overs side of Sri Lanka but will miss the series against India due to disciplinary issues on the tour of England. All-rounder Dasun Shanaka is all set to replace him for the ODI and T20 series against India.
Former India batsman Wasim Jaffer reacted in his usual hilarious way on Twitter on the Shanaka becoming Sri Lanka's captain against India.
"Yaar itne to ladke dp nahi badalte jitne SL ne captain badle hai," Jaffer said on Twitter.
The 29-year-old, an explosive batsman and a seam bowler, will become Sri Lanka's sixth captain in less than four years if he gets the job.
Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga, Dimuth Karunaratne and Perera had captained the side at some point since the start of 2018.
The limited-overs series between India and Sri Lanka has been postponed due to Covid-19 cases in the home team's camp. Sri Lanka's batting coach Grant Flower and data analyst G T Niroshan had tested positive for Covid-19 upon their return from their tour to England. The cases have forced Sri Lanka Cricket to extend the quarantine period of the Sri Lanka players from the stipulated three days.
This has in turn pushed back the start of the series to another date. The first ODI will now start on July 17 instead of July 13.
Shanaka had led the national team when it clean-sweeped Pakistan in a three-match T20I series in 2019.
The Sri Lankan players were locked in a longstanding row with the country's cricket board (SLC) over national contracts which ended on Wednesday after 29 out of the 30 players signed up for the India series.
It is believed that Perera was the one who had "encouraged the group to continue holding out", while "Shanaka it seems had been among the first to agree to sign Sri Lanka Cricket's tour contracts".
"According to some players, the group had decided early on Tuesday to continue defying the board. However, some players - Shanaka included - had signed the contracts soon after," an ESPNCricinfo report said.
(with PTI inputs)
