Dhananjaya indicates Kamindu could be retained at number seven

Sri Lanka’s Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva has indicated that young batting sensation Kamindu Mendis could continue to bat at number seven in Test match cricket although the team management and the selectors will be tempted to push him up the order to number three.

Kamindu bats at number three in First Class cricket and had a prolific season in the National Super League. Making his comeback to the Test side, the left-handed batter scored hundreds in each innings to cement his place in the side.

The need to make most of Kamindu’s skills by pushing him up the order is understandable, but Dhananjaya argued that he will be better off at number seven.

“Really impressed to see the way Kamindu bounced back. He has been knocking on the door for quite some time. When the opportunity comes your way, it’s important to grab it from both hands. The number seven position is somewhere I’ve batted before and I feel that role suits him. His technique is solid; he has power and he is very smart.”

While the spotlight has been on young Kamindu, the captain has been quite effective as well and became the first Sri Lankan captain to hit twin hundreds in a Test match. Although former captains Duleep Mendis, Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara and T.M. Dilshan had scored hundreds in each innings before, they were not captaining the side when they reached the rare milestone.

Life was cruel for Dhananjaya when he assumed duties as the nation’s 18th Test captain. In his first game, he was run out off the first ball he faced attempting a suicidal single to mid-off. But he was on top of the world in his second Test scoring 102 and 108.

“Captaincy isn’t something new for me. I have led my club and Sri Lanka ‘A’. There’s also lot of experience in the side at the moment. We have three former Test captains with us and the ODI and T-20 captains as well. So, I can pick a few brains and leading the side is a lot easy,” Dhananjaya explained.

Sri Lanka won the first Test against Bangladesh early this week to take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The second Test begins in Chittagong on Saturday.

Bangladesh have recalled former captain Shakib-al-Hasan to the squad ahead of the second Test. Shakib missed the T-20 and ODI series and wasn’t part of the first Test side as well.