Sonal Dinusha: The Troublesome Sri Lankan Batsman Against India

Sonal Dinusha has been a tough opponent for the Indian cricket team in the ongoing Test series. After scoring his first Test century against India in Galle, he once again troubled the Indian bowlers with a strong batting performance on Tuesday.

Dinusha, a left-handed all-rounder who bowls spin, is becoming an important player for Sri Lanka in Test matches. He bats at positions 6 and 7 and has been reliable in these roles. In Galle, he and Niroshan Dickwella helped Sri Lanka recover after losing five wickets, with Dinusha playing a key role.

In the second Test in Colombo, Dinusha came to bat at number 6 when captain Dhananjaya de Silva was out, leaving Sri Lanka struggling at 137/5. With little support from his teammates, he fought hard to prevent India from enforcing a follow-on.

Sri Lanka needed at least 304 runs to avoid the follow-on, as India had scored 503/9 in their first innings, thanks to hundreds from Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel. Dinusha’s ability to handle spin bowling with patience will benefit Sri Lankan cricket in the long term.

Born in 2000, Dinusha grew up playing for Mahanama College and was part of the Sri Lanka squad in the 2020 ICC U-19 World Cup. He made his first-class debut in 2018 for Colombo Cricket Club. As an all-rounder, he has taken 3698 runs and 133 wickets in first-class cricket.

Dinusha made his international debut against Bangladesh in 2022, scoring 11 runs and taking two wickets. Since then, he has improved significantly, with scores of 43 and 92 against the West Indies. He finally got his maiden Test century against India in Galle.

At the time of writing, Dinusha was unbeaten on 85 from 137 balls when rain stopped play in Colombo.