Kusal Mendis Named Sri Lanka Test Captain, Taking All Three Formats

Kusal Mendis is Sri Lanka's new Test captain. Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed the appointment on Thursday. Dhananjaya de Silva had stepped down from the role earlier that day with immediate effect. The national selection committee made the decision at a meeting at SLC headquarters. Mendis already leads the ODI and T20I sides, so he now holds the job in all three formats.

Sri Lanka Cricket said the two match Test series in Pakistan will be his first assignment in charge. Those Tests fall in November. They carry World Test Championship points.

De Silva's letter to the selectors

De Silva wrote to the selection committee to give up the job. "It's my genuine opinion that the mantle should go down to the next generation," he said in that letter, as reported by the ICC. He stays available as a batter. He took over the captaincy in January 2024 from Dimuth Karunaratne. Cricket Times reported that he informed Sri Lanka Cricket on Thursday.

According to the ICC, de Silva led Sri Lanka in 18 Tests and won seven. He scored 1,130 runs at 36.45 in the role. He also took nine wickets. Ashley de Silva, the Sri Lanka Cricket chief executive, said the board "wishes him the very best for the remainder of his career".

Mendis takes on all three formats

Mendis is 31. Sri Lanka Cricket put his record at 75 Tests and 343 internationals across the formats. The ICC reported that he has led the side in 22 ODIs and three T20Is. He has never captained in a Test. ThePapare put his Test batting at 4,836 runs at 36.36 with 10 centuries.

He will also lead the white-ball sides against Pakistan. That leg comes first. Sri Lanka play their limited-overs matches in Pakistan before the Tests begin. So Mendis starts this assignment in one format and finishes it in another.

Rawalpindi first, then Lahore

The November schedule runs across two venues. The ICC listed the second Test as pencilled in rather than fixed.

• First Test: 9 to 13 November, Rawalpindi
• Second Test: 17 to 21 November, Lahore
• White-ball leg: T20Is and ODIs in Pakistan beforehand, also under Mendis

Sri Lanka Cricket named the Pakistan Tests as the first assignment in charge. It set out no plans beyond that series. The committee handed Mendis the role without naming a term or an end date.

The job Mendis inherits

Mendis is the third man to hold the Test captaincy since the start of 2024. Karunaratne handed it to de Silva that January. De Silva has now handed it to Mendis. The white-ball matches in Pakistan begin this month, and the Tests follow in November.