Sri Lanka head coach hopeful about Dasun Shanaka’s IPL contract

Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka’s unbeaten 88-ball 108 will put him within the “IPL marketplace” once more, feels their head coach Chris Silverwood.

Chasing a mammoth 374, Sri Lanka had been observing an enormous loss after being lowered to 179 for 7 however Shanaka, batting at No 6, gave them a faint hope together with his counter-attacking knock as they managed 306 for 8 to accept a 67-run loss right here on Tuesday.

“I think he (Shanaka) has done himself a world of good,” Silverwood stated on the post-match media interplay right here.

Shanaka, who had a base value of Rs 50 lakh, went unsold on the IPL 2023 public sale held in Kochi final 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 type from the T20I collection the place he was their prime run-getter with 124 runs at a strike charge of 187.87.

Guwahati: Sri Lankan batsman Dasun Shanaka celebrates his century in the course of the 1st ODI match between India and Sri Lanka at Barsapara stadium, in Guwahati, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra)

Asked if Sri Lanka had been over-reliant on Shanaka, the coach stated: “I don’t assume we rely (solely) on Dasun. He is in a fantastic vein of type for the time being, so clearly he’s 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.” Opener Nissanka made 72 from 80 balls, whereas Dhananjaya scored 47.

“We have seen over a time period that every particular person at occasions has put their palms up and been counted. So I’m not overly nervous about that.

“Obviously, we need them to put their hands up more, especially on very good tracks like this, to put that fight up, to build partnerships. So that’s a constant work,” the coach stated.

Put in to bat, India obtained off to a flier with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill including 143 runs for the opening wicket. Thereafter, it was a Virat Kohli present as he scored his forty fifth ODI century to take them to 373/7.

Silverwood stated their bowling lacked self-discipline, whereas two dropped catches of Kohli additionally dragged them again.

“Obviously, we didn’t get off to the best start,” Silverwood stated after the match.

“If I’ve to be brutally sincere, our self-discipline within the first ten overs was missing at occasions, and we allowed India to get off to a great begin. This is a high-scoring floor. India knew that they needed to get off to a great begin and we allowed them to do this.

“They gained momentum from that and we had to push back all the time to try to put the brakes on. And I think we did that for a period of time. But when you have a class batting line-up as India have, then it’s difficult to stop them.” Sri Lanka’s fielding was discovered wanting as nicely. They dropped Kohli twice, first on 52 after which on 81. He went on to attain 113 off simply 87 balls.

“Yeah, clearly they had been expensive. Moments like which are very essential in a sport like this — we knew it was going to be a high-scoring one.

“And everyone knows when you give a participant of Virat’s calibre alternatives, he would take it. And that’s precisely what he did at the moment.

“Of course, it was an excellent knock, but had we taken those opportunities he presented, you never know,” he concluded.