Batsman Indika de Saram has forced his way into the Sri Lanka ICC World Twenty20 squad with some outstanding performances for Ruhuna in the ongoing Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament.

de Saram was included by the national selectors along with four other players - Tissara Perera, Gayan Wijekoon, Milinda Siriwardene and Lahiru Thirimanne - expanding thesquad’s strength to 30.

de Saram was surprisingly left out of the provisional squad of 25 picked by the selectors prior to theTwenty20 tournament last month, but performed exceptionally well to earn ^recall to the national squad.

He is the leading batsman in the tournament with 232 runs at an average of 58 and a strikerate of 147.77. He has also hit the most number of sixes (12) and fours (18) in the tournament so far with a top score of 94.

He made his debut for Sri Lanka at home against the Australians in 1999. However, he was in the sidelines for nearly eight years before he was recalled for the Twenty20 international against India this February.

SQUAD

Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Muttiah Muralidaran (vicecaptain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Kaushal Weeraratne, Upul Tharanga, Isuru Udana, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Chintaka Jayasinghe, Nuwan Zoysa, Gihan Rupasinghe, Thilina Kandamby, Malinga Bandara, Dilhara Fernando, Indika de Saram. Thisara Perera, Gayan Wijekoon, Milinda Siriwardene, Lahiru Thirimanne