One captain policy should be carefully weighed

The news that Sri Lanka Cricket is going to revert to one captain to lead the country in all three formats - Tests, ODIs and T20Is is something that should not be rushed but needs careful thought before decisions are made. At present we have two captains for the three formats - Angelo Mathews for Tests and ODIs and Lasith Malinga for T20Is.

Is the SLC trying to stir up a hornet nest by attempting to replace Malinga from the T20 captaincy as it appears to be? Malinga is a senior cricketer and he is preparing himself to defend the World T20 Cup which Sri Lanka won under his captaincy although Dinesh Chandimal was the official captain. By taking such hasty decisions the SLC is only making things difficult for Malinga and the team. They are not giving the confidence to the T20 captain to defend the title.

These issues must be carefully looked into because we have very few cricketers - Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal may be exceptions, who play in all three formats of cricket. We don't have half a dozen cricketers who play in all three formats to choose from.

These ideas being mooted needs to be cautiously weighed.

As it is there is hardly any country that has a captain for all three formats. India doesn't have neither does Australia, England, South Africa (until recently when Hashim Amla retired from the Test captaincy and AB de Villiers was elevated to that position) and Pakistan, so why this sudden rush of ideas?

Today cricketers have the prerogative of retiring from one format or the other. It's all well and good as long as you have a captain who plays in all three formats for sure, but what happens in the event he opts to retire from the Test format. Does it mean that he will be dropped as captain from the other two formats?