Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka’s unbeaten 88-ball 108 will put him in the “IPL (Indian Premier League) marketplace” again, feels its head coach Chris Silverwood.Chasing a mammoth 374, Sri Lanka was staring at a big loss after being reduced to 179 for seven but Shanaka, batting at No. 6, gave it a faint hope with his counter-attacking knock as it managed 306 for eight to settle for a 67-run loss.
I think he (Shanaka) has done himself a world of good,” Silverwood said at the post-match media interaction here.Shanaka, who had a base price of Rs. 50 lakh, went unsold at the IPL 2023 auction held in Kochi last month. He has put himself in the marketplace now. I am sure the (IPL) franchises will be looking at him and seeing how dynamic a cricketer he is. He is a great striker of the ball, so hopefully, he will get an opportunity.”
This was Shanaka’s second ODI century as he carried on his form from the T20I series, where he was Sri Lanka’s top run-getter with 124 runs at a strike rate of 187.87.Asked if Sri Lanka was over-reliant on Shanaka, the coach said, “I don’t think we rely (only) on Dasun. He is in a great vein of form at the moment, so obviously he is shining. If you look, we had Pathum (Nissanka) also score runs today. I thought the partnership between him and Dhananjaya (de Silva) gave us some momentum when they were together.” Sri Lanka had put India in after winning the toss but Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill seized the momentum for the hosts with a 143-run stand in just 19.4 overs. Virat Kohli then scored his 45th ODI hundred to help India post a daunting 373 for 7.
