CHENNAI: It is never easy being a finisher in the T20 format. Especially if you are an all-rounder who bowls a bit and not a frontline option. And you are playing for a team that has a lot of all-round potential, it pushes the limits of a player from time to time. What more, you are also the captain of that team. To be precise, imagine being Dasun Shanaka of Sri Lanka, a team that lacks consistency at times too.
It is not easy to be Shanaka. To play the role he plays for his team. It is hard to constantly produce numbers. Batting between 4 to 6 in the shortest format with a batting line-up — that looks incredible when it comes good and fails spectacularly when it crumbles Shanaka arguably has the toughest role as a captain among the top T20 teams. But he doesn’t seem to get bogged down by it. In fact, it is the extra responsibility that seems elevates his performance.
The all-rounder strikes at an incredible 132.19 in T20Is as captain in comparison to 107.42 as non-captain. And in the last year or so, he has gotten only better. Shanaka’s T20I strike rate has gone up to 144.09 since. But often playing a rescue role for his side, as he did against India in Mumbai in the first T20I, the numbers don’t necessarily translate into results. Thursday, though, was different.
Having gotten a good start from Kusal Mendis, Shanaka stepped up again, smashing an unbeaten 22-ball 56 as the Lankan skipper took apart the hosts’ young bowling attack. Without his swashbuckling knock that featured six big hits over the ropes, the tourists would not have gotten to 206/6 in a must-win game. One would have seen that as a job well done.
But with Shanaka, it never is the case. When Axar Patel threatened to take India home in the final over where the hosts needed 21 runs, the skipper came to the fore again. In his first over of the tour, he conceded just four runs for two wickets, securing a 16-run win. From the outset, it would seem like an impossible job to do. For Shanaka, it was just another day at the office.