Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors Asantha de Mel has publicly criticised skipper Marvan Atapattu and his team management.

De Mel believes the team management, which has the final say on selection while on tour, is holding back the development of the team by not picking youngsters.

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In an interview with the state-run Daily News, De Mel says the selectors axed middle order batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan to force the team management to experiment.

"It has come to a stage that the selection committee felt that we had to reduce some of the options in order to get the team management to play them," de Mel is quoted as saying.

"We send the youngsters saying that we are going to groom them, but they are never given a chance to play on the tour. They come back and by the next tour they are left out."

Ex-paceman De Mel was appointed earlier in the year to head a seven-man government-appointed selection committee.

Sri Lanka played in Lahore on Thursday where they lost a one-day international to Pakistan by six wickets in what was effectively a dress rehearsal of the three-nation tournament final to be played on Saturday.