Sports
Captain Dasun has helped Sri Lanka turn things around
by Rex Clementine
Cricket’s most successful captains had some remarkable factors that made them successful leaders. Mike Brearley was a good thinker. Clive Lloyd was inspirational. Imran Khan had a good eye for picking talent. Arjuna Ranatunga was a fighter and two of his prodigies Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene had factors unique to them. While Sanath led by example, MJ was a brilliant tactician. All successful players don’t become good captains either. Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Inzamam-ul-Haq are cases in point.
Sri Lanka’s white-ball captain Dasun Shanaka has been the subject of discussions by cricket analysts for turning the fortunes of an inexperienced, young and underperforming Sri Lankan team into a successful unit. Last week he sealed the fate of Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup and this week he provided another shock when India were sent home packing. What makes him successful?
Dasun wasn’t the choice to lead Sri Lanka when the national selection panel benched half a dozen seniors two years ago. He wasn’t even the deputy. Kusal Perera turned out to be the chosen one with Kusal Mendis as his deputy. The selectors argued that KJP was the only player in the team who was sure of a place. That argument is ancient. When you try to be progressive, you don’t stick to age-old theories. For a selection panel that had been ruthless in leaving out so many seniors, they needed an equally aggressive captain. When you have revamped a team you needed a new direction.
KJP is one of the nicest blokes you’d come across in cricket, but his leadership qualities were found wanting. To start with he was injury prone. He’s also a bit of an introvert. The new captain found himself in a bit of a storm following the contract crisis coupled with injuries and that experiment didn’t last long.
Dasun had become captain by default with the team in total chaos. A heavy defeat in England in 2021 saw commentators ridiculing the team and to make matters worse three players were sent home for breaching COVID protocol. When Dasun agreed to take the captaincy it was demanded that he signed contracts. He agreed. This was a gamble and perhaps angered some of the players who were on the war path with the board. He was on a tightrope. The initial few series were tough but he gradually turned things around.
Dasun-Mickey Arthur combination worked well. Although their disagreements were once seen in public the duo were quick to patch things up and move forward. They picked young players and backed them and more importantly persevered when things were falling apart.
“Dasun is special in that he has great belief in himself and empowers the team. He leads by example in his performance, training and practice and has the ability to take people on the journey with him,” Arthur told Sunday Island.
As captain, he’s not the sharpest guy when it comes to tactics. His strength is his focus and getting others to focus. He’s also not the most naturally talented player. He’s one of the fiercest hitters in the team but his defence can be breached. The best thing that has happened to Dasun the batsman is he has identified his strong areas and sticks to them. You don’t see him cutting, but you’ll see him clearing the boundary with straight hits or pulling over mid-wicket. Those are strokes that he has mastered and they fetch most of his runs.
As a bowler, he doesn’t cover himself in glory. Again, his strength is that he puts in the hard yards and wants to improve. Those are Dasun’s strong points. Since Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup in 2014, it’s been all downhill in white ball cricket. Leave alone winning tournaments, the team is nowadays struggling to qualify for events like the World Cup. Dasun has given new hope to the nation with his unique leadership qualities. He needs to be backed.
Shubman Gill dug deep for his slowest ODI hundred and India’s slowest in the last six years to see India through a tricky chase of 229 that must have brought back memories of their 3-0 series defeat to Sri Lanka last on similarly slow tracks. Despite a quick 69-run opening stand, India were tested by a target that was kept by Mohammed Shami, who took his sixth ODI five-for and became the quickest man to 200 ODI wickets in terms of balls bowled to get there.
Both sides will rue missed opportunities in their Champions Trophy opener. Bangladesh won a crucial toss on a tired pitch with no dew expected to make chasing easier, but they got off to such a poor start that they needed three dropped catches and a superlative fighting hundred from Towhid Hridoy to stay in the contest. India had Bangladesh down at 35 for 5, Axar Patel was on a hat-trick, and Rohit Sharma dropped a sitter followed by two lives for the record-breaking sixth-wicket stand. It allowed Bangladesh to get to a target that denied India a net-run-rate boost, which can prove crucial if they happen to lose one of their three matches.
India will still consider this a banana peel survived having misread the conditions and decided to field first should they have won the toss. On a slow pitch with no assistance for the quicks, they were gifted early wickets through some indiscriminate hitting. Bangladesh possibly felt the new ball was the best time to bat: they didn’t wait for a bad ball on offer and kept losing wickets. The first three fell to ambitious shots to plain good-length bowling with little seam.
Bangladesh were 35 for 3 when Axar was introduced in the ninth over. Tanzid Hasan, the only batter who had looked comfortable, played him for the turn and paid the ultimate price with an outside edge. Mushfiqur Rahim, arguably batting too late at No. 6 especially in the absence of the injured Mahmudullah, played the original line, and was done in by the rare one that turned. Axar slowed down the hat-trick ball even more, Jaker Ali obliged with an edge, which Rohit spilled.
Soon Hardik Pandya dropped Hridoy on 23 in Kuldeep Yadav’s first over. Scoring runs was still a task on the sluggish surface, more than 10 overs went without a boundary, but also India went the middle overs without a single wicket for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final. Jaker did provide an opportunity on 24 but this time KL Rahul missed the stumping off Ravindra Jadeja.
The duo found their touch deeper into the innings, but Hridoy was hampered by cramps all over his body. Shami returned to the challenging task of bowling with a short leg-side boundary but used the slower ball wide outside off to not just deny them boundaries but also collect three more wickets. A cameo from Rishad Hossain and Hridoy’s fight despite crippling cramps took Bangladesh to a fighting total.
Rohit continued his high-intent starts of recent times, and Gill matched him shot for shot as India raced away from the three Bangladesh quicks. Just before the field was about to spread, Rohit fell for 41 off 36 in a bid to make one last use of the field restrictions. Immediately, scoring became laborious. Even the master accumulator Virat Kohli struggled to manipulate the ball into gaps before falling to a legspinner again, this one with the letters of Rashid scrambled to Rishad.
Shreyas Iyer played the conditions for a while, but once he got a couple and a boundary off Mustafizur Rahman, he overreached and lobbed a slower ball to mid-off to be dismissed for 15 off 17. Promoted for the dual tasking of breaking the sequence of right-hand batters and also have an eye on the net run rate, Axar skied a slog-sweep, failing to read the Rishad topspinner.
The last three wickets had fallen for 75 runs and had taken 20.2 overs. You would have thought the sight of KL Rahul would have brought calm to the proceedings, but he tried an uncharacteristic hoick early on only to be dropped by Jaker, whom he had himself reprieved earlier in the day. That proved to be the last opportunity for Bangladesh even as India overcame the ghosts of the failed chases in Sri Lanka last year.
The man to thank was Gill, who anchored the chase and made sure he was there at the end. He was 26 off 23 when Rohit got out, but as the conditions changed he tightened his game and took only selective risks. His next boundary came only when the skiddy fast bowler Tanzim Hasan came back. In the 32nd over. By that time had brought up his slowest half-century.
Gill was content with singles off the spinners and even Mustafizur, who bowls a wicked slower ball to make use of these conditions. He scored just 30 off the 52 balls following Rohit’s dismissal, then went into middle gears before finishing it off in glory. He needed 12 out of the 19 runs to bring up a hundred, and hit a six and a four off Tanzim to get to the mark off 125 balls and take his customary bow. Rahul took India home with a six off Tanzim with 21 balls to spare.
Brief scores:
India 231 for 4 in 46.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 41, Shubnam Gill 101*, Virat Kohli 22, KL Rahul 41*; Taskin Ahmed 1-36, Mustafizur Rahman 1-42, Rishad Hossain 2-38) beat Bangladesh 228 in 49.4 overs (Towhid Hridoy 100, Tanzid Hasan 25, Jaker Ali 68; Mohammed Shami 5-53, Harshit Rana 3-31, Axar Patel 2-43) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) imposed a fine of US$ 10,000 on Dasun Shanaka for breaching the terms of the player contract he entered into with SLC.
The decision follows an incident where Shanaka, after playing for his domestic club in the ongoing Major Club Three-Day Tournament, withdrew early due to an injury.
This is following the player submitting a medical certificate, which recommended Shanaka to rest, and hence he did not take part in the remainder of the match.
However, on the same evening, he traveled to Dubai and participated in a franchise league match.
This action was deemed a breach of several contractual clauses that require players to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and commitment to Sri Lanka Cricket.
During the inquiry, Shanaka acknowledged his actions and expressed regret for any inconvenience caused.
He also clarified that he did not act with dishonest intent and assured SLC that he would exercise better judgment in the future.
Sri Lanka Cricket remains committed to maintaining the highest ethical and professional standards and will continue to take necessary measures to uphold the integrity of the game.
by Reemus Fernando
Paceman Sethmika Senavirathne took seven wickets as Trinity rattled Maris Stella for 32 runs before cruising to a ten wickets victory in the Under 19 Division I limited overs tournament match at Asgiriya on Thursday.
Sethmika shared ten wickets with Malith Rathnayake to dismiss the visitors within 11 overs. The first six batsmen in the Maris Stella batting line up did not score a single run.
With his seven wicket haul Sethmika has now accounted for the best bowling performance of the ongoing limited overs tournament. His stunning performance (5.3-2-9-7) has come just a day after St. Benedict’s paceman Ayesh Gajanayake took similar number of wickets (9-2-27-7) to bowl out Lumbini for 60 runs.
In the other limited overs matches, St. Sebastian’s beat Lumbini by seven wickets while St. Anne’s pulled off a twelve runs win over St. Anthony’s College Wattala.
Trinity rout Maris Stella at Asgiriya
Scores
Maris Stella
32 all out in 10.3 overs (Hasmika Nethshan 12n.o.; Sethmika Senavirathne 7/09, Malith Rathnayake 3/18)
Trinity
36 for no loss in 6.2 overs (Dimantha Mahavithana 28n.o.)
Three buses explode in Israel in suspected terror attack, police say
Navy seize three Indian fishing boats poaching in Sri Lankan waters
Gill ton helps India ace tricky chase after Shami five-for
-
Sports6 days agoRemarkable turnaround for Sri Lanka’s ODI team
-
Features6 days agoScammed and Stranded: The Dark Side of Sri Lanka’s Migration Industry
-
Business6 days agoUN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka: Empowering Businesses to Lead Sustainability in 2025 & Beyond
-
News7 days agoSpeaker agrees to probe allegations of ‘unethical funding’ by USAID
-
Features5 days agoDon’t betray baiyas who voted you into power for lack of better alternative: a helpful warning to NPP – II
-
Features5 days agoTwo films and comments
-
News3 days agoCommercial High Court orders AASSL to pay Rs 176 mn for unilateral termination of contract
-
News6 days agoInnovation Island Summit 2025, Colombo, Sri Lanka