Angelo Mathews, the former Sri Lankan captain, is all set to return to international cricket after his recovery from injury, with the tour against India. Alongside Mathews, Kusal Perera, and Asela Gunarathne are also recovered from their respective injuries and will be in contention for the Indian tour.
Off late, Sri Lankan players have been high on injury-prone regularly, and those injuries caused the team a lot in terms of depth and results. As they lost 16 consecutive limited over matches, which included ODIs and T20Is. While the recovery of keys players, Matthews, Perera, and Gunarathne will add strength to the team ahead of Indian tour.
"Angelo and Kusal Janith [Perera] have both recovered and they will be considered for selection for the Indian series. Asela Gunaratne is fit as well," SLC CEO Ashley De Silva said as per quoted by Cricbuzz.
Meanwhile, the interim head coach Pothas, pointed out, the atmosphere in the dressing room and also recalled the way Sri Lankan team fought in the Test Series, where they created history by winning against Pakistan in U.A.E
"It's pretty obvious what the mood will be like when you've lost 16 games," Pothas said. "With respect to new faces, that's a conversation that we need to have with the selectors. But I think it stands to reason that in any walk of life when you've had negative results for a period of time you need to see some change somewhere.
"On the Test series, let me remind you that we made history," he stated. "We did something that no other nation has ever done in the UAE. It tends to have been forgotten due to the fact that ODIs follow the Tests. But we have to give huge credit to the team and to the captain," Pothas noted.
Although, irrespective of results that gone away from the Lankans, Pothas focused on the positives on the tour, with fielding has been an improved area alongside their bowling. And, the way the young team fought in the second T20I was impressive, where they almost upstaged the hosts.
"Overall across the whole tour we can certainly glean a lot of positives. The fielding has improved out of sight and certainly was one of the shining lights throughout the month that we were out there. And the bowling as well was of a very high standard; the execution of the plans was very pleasing.
"Obviously, some of the batting didn't go according to plan, but that's the cricket world and other teams are allowed to play well. It was also one of the best bowling attacks in the world so it's always going to be tough, but I think on the whole the series started off very well with that Test win. Certainly the attitude, the character and the fight shown by that team was very, very pleasing”, concluded Pothas.
While, the Indian tour of Sri Lanka will start on November 16, which includes 3 Tests, 3 ODIS, and 3 T20IS.
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