Sri Lanka retained out-of-form skipper Dasun Shanaka on Tuesday in its 15-member squad for next month's World Cup in India despite pressure from fans and the media to drop him.
The island nation is still smarting from its ignominious defeat by India at the six-nation Asia Cup finals this month in which they were all out for just 50 runs.
The thrashing on home soil prompted scathing social media attacks on the board and its players, and demands for Shanaka's sacking. "Perhaps it's time Sri Lanka moved on from Shanaka before the country ends up being an absolute joke in the World Cup," the Daily Mirror said in a scathing editorial last week.
But after much internal debate, the board decided to stick with him and the rest of the team, a Sri Lanka Cricket source told AFP.