Lokuge Dinesh Chandimal (Sinhala: born November 18, 1989) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer for the Sri Lankan national cricket team and a former captain of all formats. A practical and agile right-handed batsman, sometimes playing as a medium-order wicket-keeper batsman, Chandimal was the first captain to lead Sri Lanka in its first day-night test match.

Domestic career

It was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for $ 50,000 during the 2012 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction. He later signed a contract with the Chittagong Vikings to play for the Chittagong Vikings in the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League.

In March 2018 he was appointed captain of the Colombo squad for the Super Four provincial tournament 2017/18. The following month he was also named captain of Colombo for the Super Provincial One Day Tournament 2018. In August 2018 he was named Colombo captain for the 2018 SLC T20 League.

In October 2020 he was called up by the Colombo Kings for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League. In August 2021, he was named captain of the SLC Reds team for the SLC Invitational T20 League tournament 2021.

International career

He made his international debut at ICC World Twenty20 2010 in the West Indies, played in Sri Lanka's group matches against New Zealand and Zimbabwe in the first group stage, and then played against Australia in the "Super Eight" final series.

After Chandimal had also played in a Twenty20 International game in Florida against New Zealand, Chandimal was selected for an ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe, where the two teams also played against India.

He made his debut against Zimbabwe, scored an unbeaten 10 when his team cruised to a nine-wicket win, and then recorded his first international century scoring 111 runs with 118 balls against India, an inning that helped his team win the game win (by six wickets) and beat India out of the tournament. He also became the youngest Sri Lanka to score an ODI century.

Chandimal was accepted into the test series with India as a permanent wicket-keeper and also showed excellent talent in the test stage. In the first innings, he scored 59 runs, but eventually, Sri Lanka was completely out with 183 runs.

In the second inning after India's huge 375 runs, Sri Lanka had dropped out with 367 runs thanks to Chandimal's brilliant stroke of an unbeaten 162 runs. He was the star for the Sri Lankan innings with 16 fours and 4 sixes. Sri Lanka had a lead of 175 and India just finished with 112 runs and Sri Lanka won the match with 63 runs. Because of Chandimal's hitting performance at the right time, he was voted Man of the Game.

He was also named a wicketkeeper on Cricinfo’s Test XI of 2015 by Cricinfo.

On July 17, 2013, Chandimal became the youngest ODI captain for Sri Lanka when he was named ODI captain for the first two games against South Africa in Colombo. In 2013, he was also named captain of the Sri Lankan Twenty20 International team and also the vice-captain of the country's one-day international team.

During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, he resigned from captaincy following an injury and suspension due to a slow overshoot, and Lasith Malinga was later named captain. Malinga was able to lead the team to their first Twenty20 championship and this strengthens Malinga as the permanent captain of the Twenty20 team.

However, after the impressive performances in the SLC Invitational T20 League, he was inducted into the squad for the South African series in September 2021. He played the third game in the series, which became his 150th ODI, and Sri Lanka later won the game and series. Later that month, Chandimal was named to Sri Lanka's squad for the men's ICC T20 World Cup 2021.