A captain brought down by a bouncer of his own making?

When Sri Lanka's T20 skipper Charith Asalanka was quietly withdrawn from the tri-series in Pakistan, the early whispers blamed a bout of illness. But scratch beneath the surface and a different picture emerges one where the captain's defiance during the heated standoff over continuing the Pakistan tour has come back to hit him like a nasty lifter on a cracked pitch.

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Fast bowler Asitha Fernando, another key figure who padded up to return home, has suffered a similar fate. The pair go back a long way teammates at Under-19 level when Roy Dias guided Sri Lanka to a rare series win in England in 2014. Both of them are back home now and not part of the tri-series in Bangladesh.

Asalanka, groomed meticulously for leadership, has long carried the air of a captain-in-waiting. At Richmond College he led with aplomb and his stint as Sri Lanka's Under-19 skipper only polished those credentials further. When he debuted at 23, it felt inevitable that the armband would rest on his sleeve and once entrusted with the reins, he steered the side with a calm assurance that echoed Mahela Jayawardene's trademark poise.