Sri Lanka rebuilding to win 2026 T20 World Cup – Dasun Shanaka

Sri Lanka is working on building a strong Twenty20 team with a mix of young and experienced players in the hopes of winning the 2026 World Cup on home ground, according to former white-ball captain Dasun Shanaka.
Shanaka, who led Sri Lanka to victory in the 2022 T20 Asia Cup, was replaced as captain by Wanindu Hasaranga in December after the team’s poor performance in the last three white-ball World Cups.
Despite Hasaranga’s leadership, Sri Lanka failed to advance past the group stage in this year’s T20 World Cup, marking the fourth consecutive time they missed the semi-finals.
Ahead to the 2026 edition, co-hosted by Sri Lanka and India, Shanaka remains optimistic. Since his debut in 2015, Shanaka has played more than half of his T20 matches batting at number six and hopes to move up the order.
The 33-year-old also captained the Harare Bolts in the ZimAfroT10 and was among the top run-scorers in the league. Shanaka credited captain Dhananjaya de Silva and coach Sanath Jayasuriya for the rapid improvement of the test team.