When it looked like the lid had been closed on former Sri Lanka white ball captain, Dasun Shanaka’s international career by his removal in December 2023, he has erupted by his explosive match winning 103 off 56 balls in taking Dambulla to a sensational improbable win over Kandy in early April. It has once again rocketed the cold storage cast out back into the reckoning in a giant leap. Shanaka’s sheer cold blooded hammering of the Kandy bowlers did ignite the left-hander’s inherent power hitting ability that has certainly set the local cricketing scenario agog bound to awakening the selectors to relooking he former captain’s way.
He was promoted to the job to the pivotal job at No.3 by Dambulla and Sri Lanka test captain Dhananjaya de Silva who was convinced here was the man for the job. He pulled it off in great style together with opening batsman Nishan Madushka who too reached a 127-run century winning milestone.
Shanaka’s whirlwind ton does take us down memory lane as to his fall apparently by a loss of confidence by the double calamity of captaincy losses affecting his performances with the bat.
The 31-year old has by and large left a lingering message that his worth deserves to be relooked at.
An explosive pinch hitting batsman by nature who has attributed his penchant to hammer the ball was a result of hitting the tennis ball with a badminton racquet as a school kid, the rise and fall of Dasun Shanaka has been a rocky issue.
Since fading out of the Sri Lankan captaincy following a spate of failures when he was removed as white ball captain in December 2023, Shanaka continued to be here and there in the T20 team before finally being showed the door by the national selectors when failure with the bat became haunting.
In retrospect, Dasun Shanakahe appeared on the big stage scene with a bang to soon winning national recognition to the white ball captaincy.
Shanaka literally stumbled on the captaincy by coincidence. That was when he was appointed stop gap white ball captain to lead Sri Lanka to Pakistan in 2019 in the wake of most all of the regular players declining to tour Pakistan following the deadly terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team at Lahore in 2009, was an incidental stepping stone transformation that was to set up Shanaka’s career as a potential leader and all-round performer.
When he led Sri Lanka on an overwhelming 3-0 whitewash in Pakistan’s own backyard indeed talk began to rumble as to his capabilities. Not only as a pinch hitter, but also as a captain who leads from the front by example with his gung-ho with the bat.
Such was Dasun Shanaka, a well-muscled six footer bearing the ideal credentials of brute physique and equally matching credentials with bat and ball with the skill of a reckonable medium pacer.
But as has been in the case of cricket that is so full of the ups and downs where invariably talent the world over who have been shown the door despite performing, Dasun Shanaka found himself not long after jolting Pakistan, cast into cold storage by the national selectors.
Following a vacuum when he was left out, Shanaka did reemerge to win over the white ball captaincy two years later when failure bugged the Sri Lankan ODI and T20 teams.
Shanaka did enjoy a pleasing run as captain in the two formats with 45 overall wins from 89 matches with 22 T20 triumphs from 48 matches for a win percentage of 47.91.
Shanaka’s captaincy record must certainly go down as major showcased by some historic series wins such as the only Sri Lankan captain to whitewash Pakistan in a T20 series and in their backyard at that, humbling mighty Australia 3-2 in a five-match bilateral ODI series after 30 years, ODI series win against South Africa at home and winning the 2023 ICC World Cup Qualifier with an unbeaten run and leading Sri Lanka to the 6th Asia Cup title following an eight-year drought. were notable achievements under his captaincy in this format.
Will Shanaka rewrite a faded career to representing Sri Lanka once again his bat will tell in the rocky world of cricket.
Shanaka’s inherent ability to crash the ball has certainly brought him full circle back into the reckoning for his speed ability in accumulating runs.
Certainly Sri Lanka needs such a batsman.