Chairman of Selectors Sanath Jayasuirya has convinced former captain Kumar Sangakkara to come out of retirement with the national cricket team in dire straits.

Sri Lanka are in danger of not earning automatic qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales in 2019 with the team hitting new lows. Sri Lanka are currently ranked sixth in ICC standings and even though if the hosts lose today’s third ODI against Bangladesh at SSC they will not slip down to number seven, Bangladesh, Pakistan and West Indies are breathing down their neck, reports The Island.

Only the top seven ranked teams plus hosts England will automatically qualify for the World Cup and Jayasuriya has convinced Sangankkara to at least play till September this year.

This means that Sangakkara will be available for the Champions Trophy in England and the five match ODI series against India in August. The cut off date for automatic qualification for the World Cup is September 30th.

"Sanga has been in good form for Surrey in County Cricket and he has agreed to play at least until September," Jayasuriya told The Island.

"We have been talking to him for sometime now, but we didn’t want to make it public as we wanted to surprise Bangladesh," Jayasuriya added.

"I will be 40 this year and it was a huge call to make. Desperate times need desperate measures and given the status of the team, I have decided to come out of retirement," Sangakkara told The Island.

Bangladesh are 1-0 up in the series and with the second ODI washed off, the hosts can only square the series. Sri Lanka have never lost an ODI series to Bangladesh.

Squads

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Shuvagata Hom, Nurul Hasan, Mehedi Hasan

Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga (c), Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Asela Gunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Danushka Gunathilaka, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Vikum Sanjaya, Thisara Perera, Sachith Pathirana, Seekkuge Prassanna, Lakshan Sandakan, Milinda Siriwardene, Nuwan Pradeep, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dilruwan Perera, Kumar Sangakkara.