Last Update: January 11, 2023, 2:40 PM IST
Guwahati [Gauhati]India
Dasun Shankar remained unbeaten on 108. (AP Photo)
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka scored a brilliant century in the 2nd ODI against India in Guwahati.
The all-rounder was the top earner at the IPL mini-auction in December, with England’s Sam Curran becoming the costliest player ever in the event’s history. The next two top buyers in the auction were Australia’s Cameron Green and England’s Ben Stokes.
All three are seam-bowling all-rounders and it was a mystery why Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka went unsold.
With Shanaka’s impressive performances during the recent T20I series between India and Sri Lanka, the franchises would have regretted ignoring the all-rounder, who set his base price at just Rs 50 lakh.
On Tuesday, Shanaka put in another brilliant innings with the bat as he scored an unbeaten century to narrow the margin of defeat, which was a high-scoring first ODI. India and Sri Lanka in Guwahati.
The Sri Lankan head coach is all praise for the 31-year-old, hoping he lands himself an IPL contract soon.
“I think he (Shanaka) has done himself very well,” Silverwood told the media after the match on Tuesday. He is a cricketer and see how dynamic he is. He’s a great striker of the ball, so hopefully he gets a chance.”
Sri Lanka were staring at a blow when India, defending 373/7, reduced them to 206/8 and it was Shanaka who added respectability to their final total as they finished with 306/8.
Asked if Sri Lanka are relying heavily on Shanaka, Silverwood said, “I don’t think we rely (only) on Dasun. He’s in great form at the moment, so obviously he’s shining. You see, Pathum (Nisanka) also got runs today. I thought the partnership between him and Dhananjay (D’Silva) gave us some momentum when they were together.”
“We’ve seen over time everybody put their hands up from time to time and they’ve been counted. So I’m not too concerned about that. Obviously, we need them to put their hands up more , especially on really good tracks like this, to carry that fight forward, to build partnerships. So it’s a constant job,” he added.
Silverwood also admitted that the Sri Lankan bowlers did not start well as their captain opted to bowl well as they allowed India’s openers to set an excellent platform for a mammoth total.
“Obviously, we didn’t get off to the best of starts. If I’m honest, there were times when we lacked discipline in the first 10 overs and we let India get off to a good start. It’s a high-scoring ground. India knew they had Have to start well and we let them do that.
He continued, “They took the momentum out of it and we had to pull back all the time to try to break down. And I think we did for a while. But when you have a classy batting line-up like India’s So it’s hard to stop them.”
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