Nickname Danu National side Sri Lanka Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Name Danushka Gunathilaka | Batting style Left-handed Role Cricketer Date joined November 1, 2015 | |
 | ||
Full name Mashtayage Danushka Gunathilaka Born 17 March 1991 (age 33) ( 1991-03-17 ) Panadura, Sri Lanka Current team Sri Lanka national cricket team | ||
Bowling style Right-arm off-break | ||
Danushka gunathilaka and kusal mendis on their 159 run partnership
Mashtayage Danushka Gunathilaka (born on 17 March 1991), commonly as Danushka Gunathilaka is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer, who plays all formats of the game for Sri Lanka. He is an opening batsman of Sri Lanka who plays with partner Kusal Perera, but occasionally removed from the squad with the injuries. He is a left-handed batsman and right-arm off-break bowler who plays for Colombo. He was born in Panadura. He studied at Mahanama College, Colombo 03.
Contents
- Danushka gunathilaka and kusal mendis on their 159 run partnership
- 2nd odi pre match press conference with danushka gunathilaka
- Early days
- International career
- References
2nd odi pre match press conference with danushka gunathilaka
Early days
Gunathilaka made his cricketing debut in the 2007–08 Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament for Sri Lanka Schools, alongside fellow Colts Cricket Club player Kusal Perera.
Gunathilaka made his List A debut for Colombo Cricket Club against Sinhalese Sports Club in 2009–10, scoring a single run.
International career
He made his One Day International debut for Sri Lanka against the West Indies on 1 November 2015.
After Kusal Perera dropped from the 2015–16 New Zealand tour due to drug scandal, Gunathilaka was included to the ODI squad for opening position with Tillakaratne Dilshan. His batting ability did not show in the first two ODIs, but in the third ODI, which was his only 4th international match, Gunathilaka scored a fast and dashing 65 runs from 45 balls. The innings included 7 fours and 4 sixes and getting the match away from New Zealand. Sri Lanka won the match by 8 wickets and Gunathilaka adjudged man of the match for his performance.
During the same tour, he made his Twenty20 International debut for Sri Lanka against New Zealand on 7 January 2016.
Gunathilaka was not initially announced to the Sri Lanka squad for 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. But he was called for the squad for injured Chamara Kapugedera. He scored 77 runs against India, guiding the team to victory. Sri Lanka chased 321 at the end, recording the highest chase ever in Champions Trophy history.
Gunathilaka scored his maiden ODI century on 6 July 2017 against Zimbabwe at MRIC Stadium. He along with Niroshan Dickwella added 229-run partnership for the first wicket, where Dickwella also scored his maiden ODI century. Sri Lanka chased 310 to win the match, which is recorded as the first 300+ chase by Sri Lanka in home soil as well. Gunathilaka won man of the match award for his impressive batting performance.
In the fourth ODI against Zimbabwe, he and Niroshan Dickwella set the record for becoming the first pair of batsmen to score two successive 200-plus partnerships in ODIs. He missed out his consecutive century, dismissed for 87 runs, whereas his counterpart Dickwella scored his second consecutive century.
He made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against India on 26 July 2017. He only scored 18 runs in the match, and took the sole wicket of Abhinav Mukund. Sri Lanka finally lost the match by huge 304 runs.