Stand-in captain appears clueless!

Chamara Kapugedera exuded as much confidence in his first press conference as captain as a Test debutant on a green pitch against a battery of pacers would. His body language was uncertain and his answers were unconvincing (even in his local language Sinhala) as he tried to present an all-is-well picture.

For the record, Kapugedera is Lanka’s eighth change in captaincy in less than three months across all formats. India haven’t made as many changes even to their personnel. Angelo Mathews and Upul Tharanga shared captaincy in the Champions Trophy before the former resigned as skipper in all formats following 2-3 loss to Zimbabwe in ODIs in early July. Dinesh Chandimal led Lanka in the lone Test against Zimbabwe but missed the first Test against India in Galle late last month due to pneumonia. Rangana Herath handled the responsibility before handing it back to Chandimal, who led in the second and third Tests.

Tharanga was named full-time limited-overs captain as he led in the first two ODIs and now Kapugedera comes in as a stand-in after the former was banned for two matches for slow over-rate.     

“It is a huge honour for me to captain my country. I am really happy to get this opportunity,” was his answer when asked to share his feelings.

The right-hander then said he doesn’t have the final XI yet which is fine but then added that he had no say in the picking of the team that will go on the park. “We haven’t actually gone through the team or finalised the team. We are still looking around for options. Hard to say now as to who will open or who will play in the middle-order,” before adding “that’s (picking team) up to the selection committee. I don’t think I can think too much on that.”

Kapugedera didn’t assure any place for Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne who have come in as replacements for Tharanga and the injured opener Danushka Gunathilaka.