Picture Credit: Twitter
Dunith Wellalage grabbed the spotlight instantly after he was tossed the ball by his skipper Dasun Shanaka in the 12th over of the ongoing Asia Cup Super 4s fixture between India and Sri Lanka.
Wellalage bowled an absolute peach to Shubman Gill on his very first ball, and Gill was left shaken. Bowling round the wicket, Wellalage bowled a flighted delivery on the middle stump which Gill looked to defend it, but completely missed it. After an outside edge, it crashed into the off-stump.
This was not all, as he got an even bigger wicket in his next over. Bowling to the in-form Virat Kohli, Wellalage bowled a slightly short ball, and Virat looked to flick it on the leg-side. But miscalculated the shot in the process as he went to hit straight into the hands of skipper Dasun Shanaka. After the two wickets, Dunith continued his performance with the ball as he dismissed skipper Rohit Sharma. Followed by a wicket of KL Rahul.
With KL Rahul’s wicket, Wellalage completed his maiden four-wicket haul in ODIs. Additionally, he now has 17 wickets in the 50-over format of the game.
Before bursting onto the international scene at senior level cricket, Dunith has shown his skills at the U-19 level in the 2022 World Cup. He was selected to lead Sri Lanka at the 2022 West Indies ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in January 2022. He picked up five wickets in Sri Lanka's opening encounter of the competition, winning player of the match. He once again won player of the match after taking another five-wicket haul in Sri Lanka's subsequent tournament game.
Wellalage has scored 113 runs in Sri Lanka's Super League playoff semi-final match against South Africa, which Sri Lanka won by a score of 65 runs. In the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, he became the first skipper of the Sri Lankan team to rack up a century. With seventeen dismissals, he finished the Under-19 World Cup as the tournament's top wicket-taker.
He was selected for the Men’s senior team in June 2022. He has since played a lone Test and 12 ODIs.
Here is all you need to know about Dunith Wellalage:
Age: 20 years
Date of Birth: January 9, 2003
Hails from: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Role: Bowler
Batting style: Left-handed bat
Bowling style: Slow left-arm orthodox
Teams: Sri Lanka U-19s, Sri Lanka, Jaffna Kings, Colts Cricket Club, Lankan Cricket Club, Jaffna, Sri Lanka A
