Left-handed batsman Hashan Tillakaratne has been named the captain of Sri Lanka's Test team while Marvan Atapattu was given the charge of the one-day side.

The 36-year-old Tillakaratne will take charge immediately, and lead Sri Lanka in the two-Test home series against New Zealand, starting on April 25.

The appointments came in the wake of Sanath Jayasuriya's resignation after Sri Lanka crashed out of the four-nation tournament in Sharjah in the league stages last week.

Jayasuriya captained Sri Lanka in both Tests and one-dayers.

The 32-year-old Atapattu, who was vice-captain of the team, under Jayasuriya, was widely believed to take over as skipper but a spokesman of the Sri Lankan cricket board said the national selectors had decided to adopt a new policy of having separate captains for Test and one-day teams.

The appointments need the approval of the Sports Minister before coming into effect.

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 5 Sub: good move kudos to the srilankan selectors for appointing tilekratne as the test captain.he is a talented player and had to be in the shadows of aravinda ... Posted by santosh Sub: They just need one win I feel sorry for Bangladesh. They just need one international win, no matter against which team! Posted by sk Sub: Wrong link This article has the wrong link.i thought it was abt the SA - BAN match,but the tilakartane's captaincy page opened.please check it out.bye. Posted by vamsikrishna Sub: congratulations tilekeratne he is a very senior member of the side but attapattu might hav been a better option Posted by vinod Sub: On the appointment of Tillekeratne as SriLankan skipper I personally feel that SriLanka are going nowhere at present.With due respects to Tillekeratne I feel Kumar Sangakkara would have made a better captain.Hasan is ... Posted by G.Ramkumar