Lakmal to lead Sri Lanka in third Test match against Windies

Pacer Suranga Lakmal is most likely to lead the Sri Lankan side in the third Test against West Indies after the regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal was suspended amidst the ball tampering allegations against him.

Pacer Suranga Lakmal will lead the Sri Lankan side in the third Test against West Indies after the regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal was suspended amidst the ball tampering allegations against him.

Sri Lanka had to decide between Suranga Lakmal and Rangana Herath. Herath incurred a finger injury on Thursday making Lakmal the clear choice.

Sri Lanka’s regular skipper Chandimal has lost his appeal against the ICC’s decision to ban him because of the ball tampering allegations being proven right.

Judicial Commissioner, Michael Beloff, has rejected Chandimal’s appeal after he was found guilty of tampering with the ball on the second day of play in the second Test against West Indies in St. Lucia on Saturday.

Earlier, Match Referee, Javagal Srinath, had accused Chandimal of two things. The first accusation was that Chandimal tried to change the condition of the ball by applying a foreign substance on the ball after a video evidence suggested the same and the second one was a Level 3 accusation which was ‘conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game’ after he delayed the day’s play by two hours.

Chandimal will be banned from one Test or two ODIs or two T20s and will be fined 100 per cent of the match fees. He will subsequently miss the first ever day-night Test match held in the Carribeans.

ICC has cleared Sri Lankan coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and manager Asanka Gurusinha as they admitted to behaving against the spirit of the game by delaying the game by two hours on day 2 of the second test against West Indies.

ICC will conduct a hearing on the incident on July 10.