Chandimal returns for South Africa T20I

Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal returned to their Twenty20 squad Thursday after serving a hefty ban for breaching the spirit of the game.

Chandimal was included in a 15-member squad for the one-off T20 that will round off South Africa's tour of the island nation Tuesday in Colombo, Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.

The 28-year-old missed the two-Test series, which Sri Lanka won, and was out of the first four one-day internationals. The fifth and final ODI is on Sunday, but Chandimal was not included in the squad for that match.

However, he was included in the T20 squad captained by Angelo Matthews and looks set to play in the day-night game on Tuesday.

Chandimal was banned by the International Cricket Council along with coach Chandika Hathurusingha and manager Asanka Gurusinha for refusing to take to the field for two hours during the second Test against the West Indies in June.

It was shortly after Chandimal was accused of tampering with the ball.

The Test captain was subsequently banned from the third Test against the West Indies and given a fine equal to his match fees.

He was later banned for another two Tests and four ODIs after pleading guilty to violating the spirit of the game.

The ICC recently unveiled tougher sanctions for ball tampering and sledging in a bid to improve on-field behaviour in the sport, while the international governing body's chief executive directly referenced the recent Sri Lanka incident – as well as Australia's ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town - in a speech at Lord's this week.

"Cricket's DNA is based on integrity, but we have seen too much behaviour of late that puts that in jeopardy and this has to stop," David Richardson said in the MCC's Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture on Monday.

"Sledging that amounts to no more than personal abuse, fielders giving send-offs to batsmen who have been dismissed, unnecessary physical contact, players threatening not to play in protest against an umpire's decision and ball-tampering.

"This isn't the version of our game that we want to project to the world.

"The public reaction around the world to the incidents in the recent Australia-South Africa series was an eye-opener.

"The message was loud and clear: cheating is cheating and it's not what we signed up for."

Sri Lanka T20 squad: Angelo Mathews (captain), Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Mendis, Thisara Perera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Shehan Madushanka, Lahiru Kumara, Dinesh Chandimal, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lakshan Sandakan, and Binura Fernando.