(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] Dunith Wellalage, who was the star of the previous game played between India and Sri Lanka on Tuesday, is off to a promising start in the early stages of his career. At just 20 years old, he stunned the critics with his all-round performance against India.
Wellalage, a left-arm orthodox bowler, secured his maiden five-wicket haul in ODI cricket, becoming the youngest Sri Lankan to achieve this feat. His victims included key Indian batters such as Shubman Gill (19), Virat Kohli (3), Rohit Sharma (53), KL Rahul (39), and Hardik Pandya (5). He finished with impressive figures of 10-1-40-5.
Notably, he also made a valuable contribution with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 42 runs off 46 balls. Wellalage became the fourth Sri Lankan player to accomplish a five-wicket haul and score 40-plus runs in a single ODI match. Moreover, his performance marked the first instance of achieving this double (a five-wicket haul and 40-plus runs) in Asia Cup (ODI) history.
To take the wickets of Kohli, Rohit, Gill, Rahul, and Pandya in a single match is no small achievement, and the young lad will surely make headlines for Sri Lanka cricket in times to come.
India wicket-keeper KL Rahul, who is enjoying good form after a comeback from injury, also played a vital innings of 39 runs for India, helping them reach a respectable total. Nevertheless, Wellalage ensured Rahul didn’t score big against them. After the match, Rahul stated that whenever they face the tweaker next time, they’ll “go after him” and not give him any chance to settle against them.
Rahul praised Wellalage in the post-match press conference, saying, “He was spot on. He got five wickets and did the job for his team. He looked the most dangerous bowler in Sri Lanka’s attack till I was playing. What more can I say? He got five top-order batsmen out. It was a good day for him, he did well with the bat too.”
“The next time we play, we will go after him,” he added.
Rahul also reflected on how he applied himself to the spin-friendly track where almost every batter looked helpless against the spinners.
“After playing the first few balls I tried to figure out what are the shots that I can play here. You can into your shell, defend, and try and defuse the threat but I thought I would try and play my shots but be careful about what shots to choose against which bowler. That is sort of an on-the-go decision you make,” said Rahul to the reporters.
“I’m glad the shot selections I made till the point I got worked well. Maybe next time it might be a bit different. Yesterday was different. We were able to play more shots, but today was different. As a batter, you try and assess the situation and conditions and decide what shots you can play,” he concluded.
Dunith Wellalage has played one Test and 13 ODIs so far for Sri Lanka. In the one Test he played, he failed to pick any wicket, but in ODIs, he has put 18 scalps under his belt already.