In the T20 tri series game hosted by Pakistan today, one and only Dasun Shanaka was the highest scorer for the Sri Lanka national cricket team in the match against the Zimbabwe national cricket team. With the batters’ collapse happening all at once, Shanaka seemed to be the one to calm down the pitch, and by his act, he started off his charge. Early on, he showed grit, gradually and slowly getting the balls that went through the fielders and even changing the strike, then came the crispy six that he hit that night and also flew the signal of his will. The ball by ball commentator says that at one point he reached 28 off 22 balls, then Ryan Burl was hit and he was caught and got out later.
Shanaka’s ended up number of 34 runs crowned him as the highest run scorer amongst the Sri Lankan batsmen in this innings. The captain had decided to bowl first and then turned up with the bat when his team was in trouble. He scored 34 runs off 25 deliveries in a situation where he kept losing partners. The innings bifurcated into two important phases, one of cautious gathering when the team was under pressure, and the other of intent when Shanaka thought it was time to counter attack. But at the same time, the whole Sri Lankan batting unit managed to get back only very slightly.
In other words, the situation of the match was very unfavourable for Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe had a total of 162/8, and while attempting to chase it, Sri Lanka lost a few wickets in the early part of the innings which made the situation more difficult for the middle order. Thus, Shanaka’s performance is highlighted as an isolated resistance and determination show. Though it was not in the form of a win, it certainly was a display of his readiness to take the lead and support his team with his bat even under pressure. Now it is the responsibility of the rest of the team to support him and change such individual contributions into team success.
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