Hasaranga's Test selection got nothing to do with his ban: SLC

A Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) official has brushed aside speculations that Wanindu Hasaranga came out of retirement and was eventually picked in the Test squad so as to avoid missing games in the upcoming T20 World Cup.

The International Cricket Council had on March 19 suspended Hasaranga for the two-Test series against Bangladesh. Before the verdict was announced by the ICC, Hasaranga, who had retired in August last year, was picked in the squad for the two Tests against Bangladesh.

If not for missing the two Tests, Hasaranga would have missed four ODIs or T20Is for breaching article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "showing dissent at an Umpire's decision" during the third ODI against Bangladesh.

"Actually the information is incorrect (that he was picked intentionally to avoid match ban in T20 World Cup). Hasaranga had given us a letter well before and the selectors thought about it and decided to pick him for the Test series. It's got nothing to do with that incident," team manager Mahinda Halangoda said.

Speaking about the upcoming Test series, Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya De Silva said that he is confident of success against Bangladesh and backed the experience in the side.

"The target is to win the Test series. It's not about conditions, it's about the way you play. We also won a Test series in Sri Lanka against Afghanistan and think we will have a good match against Bangladesh too," said Dhananjaya.

"In any format of cricket, experience is valuable and we have lot of experience in our side, like you mention, in Angelo (Mathews) and Chandimal (Dinesh)."

Hosts Bangladesh will be without Mushfiqur Rahim, who is recovering from an injured right thumb, and head coach Chandika Hathurusingha acknowledged on Thursday that it will be difficult to make up for the absence of such an experienced campaigner.

"We are going to miss Mushy's experience. He is in good form. It is very hard to replace this kind of experience straightaway. We are going to back our young players. Hridoy is coming in. We also have (Shahadat Hossain) Dipu and Shadman (Islam) in the squad. They have been with the Test team lately. It is an exciting time for Bangladesh cricket with so many young players. I will ask them to grab every opportunity," Hathurusingha told reporters at ZACS.

"The mood is good in the camp. There are a lot of new faces. We have different teams in red and white-ball cricket. The new boys are bringing a lot of energy and enthusiasm."

Hathurusingha said he is expecting either uncapped pacer Mushfik Hasan or Nahid Rana to make it to the playing XI, if not both.

"They are both exciting prospects for Bangladesh. They can both bowl 140-plus. They are very young. They are strong boys. They made good starts to their first-class careers. They bowled lots of overs. I am looking forward to seeing one of them playing in this game, if not both."

Hathurusingha is also expecting out-of-form Litton Kumar Das to get back to runs and regain his confidence.

"I expect him to bring lot more runs in red-ball cricket. He is playing well. It is a different ball game. He will have more time to get himself in. We have no doubt about his talent. We know that he is going through a little bit of rough patch in white-ball cricket. We hope that he will come back to form."

Bangladesh will be hoping that Jaker Hasan is fit and fine for the opening Test after he left the ground with a finger injury while batting.

Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium from March 22 in the opening game for the two-match series, which is part of ICC Test Championship.