Dasun Shanaka, captain of Sri Lanka, is blazing a trail in Twenty20 Internationals right now. He struck a storming 56 off 22 balls and collected two wickets to be awarded Player of the Match in the second T20I against hosts India. His all-round effort helped the visitors even the series ahead of the third and final T20I on Saturday.
Shanaka (base price 50 lahks) remained unsold at the IPL 2023 auction in December, even though all-rounders were in great demand and players like Sam Curran, Cameron Green, and Ben Stokes fetched record-breaking bids. Even though he was unclaimed for the T20 extravaganza, he is now leading the T20I series against India in terms of run production.
The 31-year-old has scored 101 runs in only two games, with a phenomenal strike rate of 206.12. He has taken two wickets so far in the series, putting him in fourth position among the series’s top wicket-takers.
Gautam Gambhir, a former Indian cricketer, has considered what the future of Shanaka may look like in the IPL auction. He said in an interview with Star Sports that the Sri Lankan all-rounder would have fetched a massive sum had the current IND-SL series taken place during the auctions.
“I won’t have money, he would be that expensive, the way he has batted. That is what the auction is all about. Imagine if this series had happened just before the auction, some of the franchises would probably not have had the money to buy him,” said Gambhir.
But on Saturday, Sri Lanka, headed by Shanaka, will play India in the series’ last match, hoping to win and take the series. After the Twenty20 Internationals are over, the visitors will play a three-game One-Day International (ODI) series beginning on Tuesday, January 10.
