Dhananjaya de Silva: SL missed 'big chance' to make WTC final

Watching the South African joy pouring out of Lord's following their World Test Championship victory, Sri Lanka Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva reminded his players that it could have been them.

Sri Lanka had a decent shot of making that final. If they'd won three of their last four Tests in the 2023-25 cycle (they had two away fixtures against South Africa, and two at home against Australia), they would have been competing in the final at Lord's. Instead they lost every single one of those matches - most of them quite badly - and finished sixth on the WTC table.

In the previous cycle, they had also had an outside shot of making the final right into their final Test series. This time, the first cycle which de Silva gets to run the show from the outset, he wants to leave no stone unturned in their quest to finally make it to the title match.

"We had a big chance to get to final but unfortunately we couldn't do it," de Silva said on the eve of the first Test against Bangladesh. "Even yesterday, when I talked to the boys, I reminded them where we could have been (at Lord's this week), and where we ended up. As we start a new cycle, we know we have to win our home series. We need to pick up all those points. It's a great opportunity to start a new cycle with a home series."

The problem for Sri Lanka is that their Test schedule in this cycle is both scant, and wonky. After this series, they next play in West Indies in the middle of 2026 - a gap of almost a year. All up, they will play only 12 Tests in this cycle (the minimum number) unless more are hastily scheduled. Both of their big Test players to retire this year - Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews - have been critical of a Sri Lanka schedule that seems to be leaking Test matches.

De Silva, however, just wants his team to get on with the business of winning the few matches they still have to play.

"Our job as professionals is to adapt to any situation. We have to play the situations we're given - we can't blame anyone. Last year we got a few Tests, but this year we didn't, and that's not something that is in our hands."

To kick off this new cycle, Sri Lanka have also named no fewer than six uncapped players in an 18-man squad. Many of these players have been picked on the strength of their domestic performances over the past few months.

"We need to prepare for the situations that we do get. We've had a good National Super League (Sri Lanka's premier first-class tournament) recently, and we've had good preparation through that. We've also identified a few good youngsters through that. We're looking to embark on this next journey with them."