Viyaskanth has also shown himself to be a growing threat throughout his multiple seasons in the LPL. But given he has played just one T20I till now, the selectors felt it would be a risk to blood him in with the World Cup around the corner.

"We [also] had a big discussion regarding Viyaskanth and Jeffrey, and there were differing opinions within the selection committee. But in the end, we went with Jeffrey because the World Cup is coming up soon and there was a question over whether Viyaskanth could suddenly be brought in to play in a World Cup. So that's why we went with Jeffrey and his experience."

It was a similar story regarding Dickwella, who was picked ahead of Croospulle and Daniel.

"We were looking for someone to play in the top order [with the injuries to Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera]. We looked at Shevon Daniel, Lasith Croospulle and Dikka [Dickwella], but the first two are still quite young. It was difficult to pick them based purely on their most recent performances.

"They're very talented cricketers, someone like Shevon can play for 10 to 15 years for Sri Lanka. A player like that, do we drop him into a difficult situation? Or do we hold him back and let him play in the NSL, A team, give experience and then bring him into the side?"

"We spoke to the captain, as well as the coach, and they also felt Niroshan Dickwella was the best option at this time because heading into a World Cup, his experience will be useful."

"Discipline is very important. We spoke to Dikka. The team is playing well, and we really haven't had any issues with discipline in recent times. That's a very important thing, it shows the unity of the team as well. Discipline needs to be the number one thing."