The St Kitts And Nevis Patriots side are on a bit of a roll here in the action packed 2026 edition of the CPL aka the Caribbean Premier League.  In a defining contest against the very handy St Lucia side, the St Kitts And Nevis Patriots outfit unleashed a real storm and a livewire with the bat in the form of Dasun Shanaka of Sri Lanka. In a tournament that is about big hits, lofty shots and boundaries and sixes galore, it was precisely that as the talented Sri Lankan all rounder put up with a stormy performance with the bat to gun down and destroy his St Lucian opponents.

Scoring a wonderful, action packed and actually a record breaking century, that came off just 39 deliveries, Dasun Shanaka packed a real punch in an innings that was as entertaining as it was action packed.


In all, the right handed Sri Lankan struck 121 runs off just 43 odd deliveries and still managed to stay unbeaten until the end to stun a crowd that perhaps may not have necessarily expected a Lankan to dominate a contest with there being countless Caribbean smashers around in the league.

Or, how else does one put it?

In his stormy batting performance, Shanaka was particularly harsh on fast bowling opponent Gaston of the St Lucian side against whom he struck some effortless sixes.

Did anyone even see those coming?

But destruction wasn’t only limited for Gaston; in the 19th over of the batting innings, Shanaka went berserk against Matthew Forde and struck him for a huge six over cover, cutting an inane looking delivery for a massive blow. And then on the very first ball of the 20th which was the final over of their batting innings, struck a gun barrel straight six off Gaston.

That shot took him to 99. Immediately one delivery later, he would handle an over pitched delivery way over on to the on side to reach his century. This, was another lofty hit and with that Dasun Shanaka reached a remarkable and career best CPL century.

He was by that time 105 not out. And what was really wonderful was that his compatriot, Wanindu Hasaranga was at the other end.

There are knocks. There are glowing knocks. This was a record breaking one and one that Shanaka will favour for a really long time.