Dinesh Chandimal

Dinesh Chandimal is a dynamic right-hand wicketkeeper batsman, who plays for Sri Lanka in all three formats. The technically sound player showed immense potential in his early days and grabbed the selectors attention, who decided to try him out in the ICC World T20 in 2010.

In the same year, Chandimal made his long awaited ODI debut against Zimbabwe and remained not out as Sri Lanka won the match convincingly. He didn’t have to wait long for his maiden ton as Chandimal scored a brilliant 111 against India and eventually cemented his place in the ODI setup of Sri Lanka. He continued his stupendous ODI form in the series against England, where he scored a sensational ton at Lords, followed by a half-century in Manchester.

The following year, Chandimal made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against South Africa. In the second Test of the series, he scored half centuries in each of Sri Lanka’s innings and in the process became the first Sri Lankan batter to score half centuries in both the innings of a debut Test match. His knock helped Sri Lanka win their first ever Test match in South Africa.

Chandimal’s stature grew when he performed well in away conditions of Australia and South Africa. He occupied the no.4 slot and in the 16 ODIs in those two series, Chandimal amassed 630 runs, including six half-centuries.

In 2013, Dinesh Chandimal at the age of 23 became Sri Lanka’s youngest ever captain, when he was given the reins of the T20I team in 2013. He was also appointed the deputy to Angelo Mathews in Test and ODIs. In the same year, Chandimal celebrated his maiden Test ton against Bangladesh at Galle. 

During the 2014 ICC World T20, Chandimal was suspended for slow over rate and as a result, Lasith Malinga was given the command to lead the team. He led Sri Lanka to their maiden T20 World Cup title and was appointed the permanent captain of the T20I team.

Chandimal holds the joint record of taking most catches in a single T20 match as a fielder (4). 

The 2015 ICC World Cup was a disappointing one for the Lankans, but Chandimal played some crucial knocks which included a quickfire 50 of 22 balls against Australia before getting retired hurt. The same year, Chandimal was included in the ICC Test XI lineup.

In 2016, he scored four consecutive fifties against England and continued his rich vein of form in the ODI series against the Aussies in the same year. 

In 2017, Sri Lanka lost a home match for the first time against Zimbabwe. Many experts criticized Angelo Mathews for his captaincy, and as a result, Dinesh Chandimal was appointed Sri Lanka’s permanent captain for the Test team.

In the third Test match of the away series against India, Chandimal slammed his 10th Test century, and in the process became the fastest Sri Lankan to reach that landmark.

The following year brought some controversy to his name as Chandimal was found to be guilty of ball-tampering issues against the West Indies, and because of this incident he was banned for one Test match and was also fined 100% of his match fee.

Over the past few years, Chandimal has battled few injuries and good form has not been on his side. He has been a part of Sri Lanka’s rebuilding phase and is considered the role model for the upcoming generation of the Islanders.

During this tumultuous period, the Lions need his wealth of experience to make sure that their future is in safe hands.

(As of March 2021)