Gujarat Titans replaced the injured Kane Williamson with Dasun Shanaka for the remainder of IPL 2023, marking a long-awaited foray of the Sri Lankan captain in the league.
Across 2022, Shanaka appeared 40 times in T20 cricket, making 557 runs at a strike rate of 140 and claiming 14 wickets. Of these, 497 came in 25 international matches, a format where he had led Sri Lanka in 2019, and then since 2021.
In Dharamsala, Shanaka came out at 102 after 14.4 overs and blazed his way to a 19-ball 47 not out to take Sri Lanka to 183-5. The following night at the same venue, he walked out at 29-4 and made 74 not out in 38 balls out of a total of 146-5.
He batted too low, was the verdict, as Sri Lanka lost both matches.
Four months later he played one of the finest innings in the format by a Sri Lankan. Australia’s 176-5 in Pallekele, already a steep total, seemed insurmountable when Sri Lanka needed 59 in the last three overs.
Having made six off the first 12 balls he had faced, Shanaka slammed 48 off the next 13. The improbable win lifted the spirit of a nation where fans sought cricketing success amidst a plethora of problems off it.
Sri Lanka established themselves as a powerhouse in limited-overs cricket in 1996, when they won the World Cup for the first time. Ranatunga, de Silva, and Mahanama quit over the next few years, but Jayasuriya, Muralidaran, and Vaas stayed, and Dilshan, Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Arnold, Malinga, and Kulasekara arrived, and Mathews, Tharanga, and Mendis kept the torch alight.
Between 2007 and 2014, Sri Lanka had made it to five finals in ICC tournaments, eventually winning it at the 2014 T20 World Cup. They also won the Asia Cup that year.
But as their superstars faded away, the board grappled with financial crisis; and the myriad of selectorial decisions did not help. The glory days of Sri Lankan cricket seemed a thing of the past.
Yet, on that one bright night in Pallekele, the fans rejoiced, for they saw hope. And that belief increased manifold when, despite an ugly defeat in the tournament opener, Dasun Shanaka and his men won five matches in a row to win the Asia Cup.
Shanaka himself struck at 139 in the tournament. Against Bangladesh, his 33-ball 45 helped Sri Lanka win after they were 77-4. Against India, he took out Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya before seeing Sri Lanka home with an unbeaten 18-ball 33.
Of course, it can be argued that there while Shanaka has been a talisman for Sri Lanka in the shortest format, his strike rates of mid-to-high 130s, even around 140, are decent – but perhaps not enough to merit a place as an overseas cricketer in an IPL squad.
But Shanaka is no ordinary batter. His most famous performances in 2022 came in a specific role, in which there are few better cricketers in the world.
In 2022, Shanaka struck at 195 across 123 balls in death overs. Among batters who have faced at least as many balls, only Hardik Pandya (196) scored at a quicker rate, that too marginally. Reduce the cut-off to 100 balls, and Shanaka still topped the chart among non-Indians.
Thus, it seemed bizarre when Shanaka missed out at the IPL auction. Death-over hitters are not easy to find in India, especially if they can chip in with a few overs.
The fans responded with memes, the most viral of them suggesting he would have been picked had he been English or Australian.
The unperturbed Shanaka, meanwhile, made 45 in 27 balls and 56 not out in 22 in consecutive innings on the India tour. During the second innings, he set a new Sri Lankan record for the fastest T20I fifty for Sri Lanka, and struck twice in his only over to remove both batters of a threatening-looking partnership.
Lasith Malinga, no less, weighed in this time.
Magnificent display of power hitting by Dasun Shanaka👏Definitely one of the best T20 finishers in the game.
Congratulations for scoring the fastest T20I 50 for SL🇱🇰
His recent performances scream of an IPL contract and I will be surprised if he doesn’t land on one soon!#INDvSL— Lasith Malinga (@malinga_ninety9) January 5, 2023
Malinga’s prediction indeed came true when Gujarat Titans signed him up to replace the injured Kane Williamson. Of course, they had little choice. It has been only five matches, but Shanaka has struck at 171 in 2023 along with figures of 4-0-34-4.
Back in 2016, Shanaka had smashed a 48-ball 131 not out and a 46-ball 123 in two T20 matches in the span of a week. He hit 16 sixes in the second of these innings – to date the joint fourth-most in the format.
Chris Gayle, the man who occupies two of the top three slots, was signed up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore as an injury replacement as well. He metamorphosed into an IPL legend.
Whether Shanaka does the same, well, is something time will tell.
