Sri Lanka's De Silva rues missed chances, confident about next WTC cycle

Though de Silva was following every twist and turn in the hard-fought encounter that South Africa won to claim the WTC Mace for the first time, the Sri Lanka captain was watching the proceedings with regret because with a bit of luck and some good performances, Sri Lanka could have been one of the finalists of the WTC 2023-25.

Now, taking inspiration from South Africa’s triumph at Lord’s, the Sri Lanka skipper is eyeing a similar victory for his side in the new World Test Championship cycle. Skipper de Silva is rallying his side to take inspiration from the Proteas' ICC World Test Championship 2025 Final triumph as Sri Lanka brace for the start of the next WTC cycle.

Sri Lanka harboured a decent chance of qualifying for the prestigious showpiece event at Lord's in the recently concluded cycle. Their path to the final was clear: win three out of their remaining four Tests.

Two of these crucial encounters were at home against Australia, while the other two presented a stern away challenge against South Africa. Ultimately, however, they finished a disappointing sixth in the standings after succumbing to heavy defeats in all four of those decisive encounters.

For de Silva, this is the first World Test Championship cycle where he is at the helm from the very beginning, and he is determined to leave no stone unturned.

"We had a big chance to get to the final, but unfortunately, we couldn't do it," de Silva told reporters 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 cycle presents a major challenge for Sri Lanka. While Dimuth Karunaratne has already retired and Angelo Mathews will quit the format after the first Test.

Despite these setbacks, Dhananjaya de Silva remains focused on the task ahead and wants his team to concentrate on winning as many matches as possible from the 12 scheduled Tests Sri Lanka will play in this cycle.

The team picked for the two Tests and Bangladesh has as many as six uncapped players, many of them selected on the back of strong domestic performances.

"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," said De Silva

Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in the first of the two Tests beginning Tuesday (June 17) that will mark the beginning of the ICC World Test Championship 25-27 cycle.