Dasun Shanaka blasted a first-class hundred in Sri Lankan domestic cricket and played a cameo in the ILT20 on the same day.
After the Moors Club declared on 412-9, the Sinhalese Sports Club finished day two of the three-day match on 136-5. At the crease were captain Charith Asalanka (26) and Shanaka (39). Earlier in the game, Shanaka had bowled 21 overs for his 1-76.
Shanaka exploded on the third morning, hitting 10 fours and eight sixes before falling for only 123 in 87 balls, dominating a stand of 178. Asalanka followed soon afterwards, for 66, and the SSC capitulated to 275. Moors declared on 171-6 and, chasing 309, the SSC finished on 105-1 after 14 overs of batting.
Shanaka was not there for any of this (even if he had, it could not have been for long). He had got out after 17.3 overs of cricket in the morning – in other words, about an hour and a quarter. Not too long after the match in Sri Lanka got over, he walked out to bat with Dubai Capitals on 180-3 against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders.
The catch? The first match was played at the P Sara Oval in Colombo; the second, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. It takes four and a half hours to reach Dubai from Colombo by air (this does not account for the road travel between the airports and the stadia).
In Dubai, Shanaka as good as continued where he had left off in Colombo. Only 14 balls remained in the innings, of which he faced 12 – and hit 34 with four fours and two sixes to lift the Capitals to 217-4. David Warner, on 91 on 55 balls when Shanaka walked out, got to face only two balls. He never got to his hundred.
In end-November and early December 2024, Allah Ghazanfar kept switching between the Abu Dhabi T10 and the Under-19 Asia Cup (including two matches separated by four hours in two different cities) – but at least that was in the same country.
