The Sri Lankan Cricket selectors seem to have shut the door completely on Malinda Pushpakumara, the 34-year-old left-arm spinner who was expected to take the baton from Rangana Herath, The Sunday Times Newspaper reported.
Malinda who has only featured in four Tests matches so far, has been omitted once again for the series against West Indies as the selectors have decided to go with a young spinner in place of injured Lasith Embuldeniya.
Accordingly Praveen Jayawickrema, the 22-year-old spinner has been included in the side.
Malinda is seven short of reaching 800 first-class wickets.
“We are looking at the future. The question was whether to bring in a 34-year-old into the side in the short term or to give that opportunity to a young player who can play for Sri Lanka at least for another decade,” Sri Lanka chief selector Pramodya Wickramasinghe told the Sunday Times Newspaper.
22 year old Left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrema took 15 wickets in 17 games in the recent domestic limited over tournament.
Malinda Pushpakumara world’s 2nd highest first class wicket taker in last decade