Each series is a build-up towards World Cups, says Kusal Mendis

Monday, 5 October 2026 02:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka white-ball Captain Kusal Mendis (second from right), along with teammates Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Kamindu Mendis, and Lahiru Udara, go through the customary religious rituals prior to their departure to Pakistan yesterday

“As much as we want to win, we will have to give chances to younger players and prepare a squad”

White-ball Captain Kusal Mendis said that Sri Lanka was using the bilateral white-ball series and One-Day Tri-Series in Pakistan as a build-up towards the next two World Cups – the 50-over in South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2027 and the T20 in Australia and New Zealand in 2028.

“Our target is preparing for the two World Cups. We are taking every tour as practice to try out new combinations. We are looking at a squad of around 25 players for the two formats,” said Mendis prior to the team’s departure to Pakistan.

“The Pakistan tour is not easy, we have T20Is and ODIs. We have to go in with a plan. As much as we want to win, we will have to give chances to younger players and prepare a squad of at least 15 or 16 players for each format,” he said.

Sri Lanka are embarking to Pakistan on the back of series defeats in England in both formats. They were whitewashed 3-0 in the T20Is and lost 2-1 the ODI series.

“Although we lost the T20I series to England, we took a lot of positives out of it,” said Mendis. “We used new players to see how they would perform and to try and give them the experience because we are going to two World Cups. We are playing these matches with that in mind,” he added.

“The first ODI against England, we could have won as our bowlers performed very well and gave 100%. Batting was our downfall. In the second ODI, we performed excellently in all three departments and were able to win.”

Mendis said playing against pacies bowling at 140 plus was not an issue.

“Some of our top batters have faced pace of that nature and can handle them. More than the pace it is the shot selection that is important. We all make mistakes,” he said. “The pitches in England got slow and it suited us but we made a lot of mistakes and that is why we lost the series. There is no issue with extra pace; we have to learn to handle each situation. If we can do that, we can improve the number of wins.”

Sri Lanka commences their three-match T20 series with Pakistan at Rawalpindi on 9 October. [ST]