Sri Lankan all-rounder and former captain Dasun Shanaka is a player, who has uplifted Sri Lankan cricket when it was going through one of its worst phases. Shanaka was appointed as the skipper of the team when they were going through a transition phase and almost many big names such as Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tilakaratne Dilshan, and many more players had retired.
The Sri Lankan side was filled with many young players such as Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Matheesha Pathirana. One of them was Dasun Shanaka. However, Shanaka took the challenge very brilliantly and built a brilliant team out of these young players.
The Sri Lankan team were going through a very lean phase when they hosted the 2022 Asia Cup. The country was also going through a harsh economic crisis due to which the countrymen were very much living in a sad state of their life. However, Sri Lanka were able to defy all the odds and won the tournament in front of their home crowd. This also boosted the confidence of the Sri Lankan cricket team fans and started gaining interest in cricket once again.
Dasun Shanaka opens up on Sri Lanka missing out from the Champions Trophy 2025
Sri Lanka didn’t perform well in the ODIs due to which they had to play the qualifiers of the ODI World Cup 2023. However, Sri Lanka ended up winning all the games of the qualifiers and were able to make it to the marquee round. Sri Lanka showcased brilliant performance in every match of the tournament and gave tough competition to every team except India.
Sri Lanka were able to defeat England in the tournament which was considered to be an upset by many cricket experts. Sri Lanka finished in the ninth spot of the tournament and were able to win just 2 games out of 9.
This also marked their elimination from the race of the Champions Trophy 2025, which is set to be held in Pakistan. The top seven teams of the tournament except the hosts qualified for the tournament.
Dasun Shanaka, who missed the majority of the tournament due to injury was asked about the same in a conversation with Cricbuzz. Shanaka said that this can happen to any team in today’s world because cricket has evolved so much. Shanaka said that the facilities in the countries have also evolved. He stated that 10 years back countries such as Bangladesh, Scotland, and the Netherlands didn’t have these facilities. However, in today’s world, each player is playing under good coaches due to which many talented players are also coming up.
He said, “No, it can happen to any team right? Because today cricket has evolved and the facilities in the other countries have evolved. Earlier, it was not like this. 10 years back Bangladesh never had these facilities. 10 years back Scotland didn’t have these facilities to play cricket. Netherlands, they didn’t have. But now, see everywhere they play league cricket (under) good facilities, good coaches, good structures and so cricketers are coming up.”
Further speaking in the conversation Dasun Shanaka said that ten years from today, many associate nations such as Germany can also compete with the top ten teams in the world because cricket is evolving so much. Shanaka said that Sri Lanka had to play two qualifiers of the T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup which was a big headache for a captain.
He said, “So in another 10 years time we can see some associate nations like… I don’t know I see Germany playing. Those countries will play I mean within the top 10 because the rise of these nations certainly suggest that if there is a good structure in place, cricketers will come up. You know when I became the captain we had to play qualifiers twice like the T20 qualifiers and play 50-over qualifiers and it was a big headache for a captain. But unfortunately I got injured during the World Cup.”
Sri Lanka are currently playing against Afghanistan in a Test match in Colombo.