‘Sri Lanka has found a brilliant player’ – Avishka Gunawardene hails Sonal Dinusha despite India dominance

India lead the two-match Test series 1-0 after winning the first Test at Galle by 165 runs. The second Test at SSC Colombo saw Sri Lanka post 290 and 229 for 6 in their two innings, while India declared at 503 for 9. Despite the series deficit, former Sri Lanka batter Avishka Gunawardene identified emerging talent and other positives for the hosts.

Gunawardene said on Wednesday, acknowledging India’s dominance while highlighting encouraging signs for Sri Lankan cricket. He singled out one player for particular praise and noted the performance of a new bowling addition to the squad.

“You can always talk about the results, but obviously I take the positives out of it. Sri Lanka has found a brilliant player called Sonal Dinusha and the way he’s batting, I think he’s going to be a handful for Sri Lanka cricket,” Gunawardene said as quoted by NDTV Sports.

Dinusha’s standout performance in the series

Dinusha has been Sri Lanka’s leading run-scorer in the series. The batter accumulated 294 runs across four innings at an average of 98.00, including two centuries and one half-century with a best score of 103. In the first Test, Dinusha made 100 and 84. He converted an overnight score of 85 into his second century of the series in the second Test, becoming the eighth batter ever to score two hundreds in his first two Tests against India.

Gunawardene identifies positives despite India’s dominance

The former Sri Lankan batter also singled out young off-spinner Keshara Nuwantha for praise, with the 22-year-old making an encouraging impact against India. He has claimed six wickets in the ongoing Test series.

“We just played a new off-spinner (Keshara Nuwantha) who looks good. So there are quite a few positives other than the results, but needless to say India has dominated and is dominating this Test series,” Gunawardene said.

“I can’t point out and say one reason or two reasons. I think it’s more than handling pressure; I think it’s the handling of situations that Sri Lanka hasn’t done well,” he added.