Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal honoured in Wisdens best team of the year – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka Sports Editor: Melbourne)
Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal find themselves in elite company with the release of Wisdens team of the 22/23 year.
The honour gives welcome credence and recognition to a team that has delivered many memorable cricketers over the past decades albeit, as a younger member of world Test cricket.
Karunaratne’s record as a consistently free scoring opener is without question drawn alongside Australian prolific run getter Usman Kuwaja who has also had a purple patch at the top of the order.
Chandimal has always been a highly talented batsman but fans will challenge his selection over some great players in the middle order.
Picked ahead of prolific batsmen such as Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, Australia’s Steve Smith and Englishman Joe Root will no doubt create great debate. His selection was on the back of a double century against Australia in Galle and a century over Bangladesh.
The respected almanac of world cricket has been known to pick their choices on research and merit, which means the controversy it may sometimes generate gives the final selection a debating avalanche worldwide.
Obviously, it also gives recognition and spotlights the age old publication as a platform if unknown to some, and certainly draws attention to the newer generation with knowledge and criticism of their own.
From a Sri Lankan perspective it adds more names from an illustrious past of fantastic exponents who received similar recognition none more so than Kumar Sangakkara who was in the best teams twice.
