Sonal Dinusha was struggling towards the quick ball and was determined for an answer. The diminutive batter was with Sri Lanka A in Darwin in July 2025 when Australia A’s tall tempo assault started peppering him with bouncers. Mitchell Perry, Liam Scott and Henry Thornton all stood over six toes tall and will bowl quick and quick. And so they did.
Dinusha’s response was fast. He spoke to his coaches, labored out a tactical plan and, extra importantly, spent the session break going through throwdowns designed to copy the issue he was encountering.
“They have been bowling bouncers, he was type of struggling. So we simply went, threw just a few balls, had a chat with him, simply sorted out what he was going to do, the tactical a part of it. After which he went on,” Avishka Gunawardene, then the Sri Lanka A coach, tells Cricbuzz.
Dinusha scored a 145-ball 105 within the first innings of the primary unofficial Take a look at on that tour, adopted by a 191-ball 88 within the second fixture. It was his first time batting in Australia. However to the coaches who had watched him to that time, none of it was shocking. This was typical Dinusha: determine an issue, work out an answer and get on with it.
Dinusha is a prized product of Sri Lanka’s system, having come by means of the nation’s deeply established faculty cricket construction. He began out by enjoying for De La Salle Faculty in Colombo earlier than shifting to the distinguished Mahanama faculty in the identical metropolis, the place his present Take a look at captain Dhananjaya de Silva additionally performed. At each the universities, Dinusha had a training namesake. Sonal Dulshan Elwalage, an SLC Degree 2 coach, is simply eight years older than the cricketer and performed the game himself earlier than switching to full-time teaching.
“Dinusha started enjoying cricket there [De La Salle College] on the age of 12, and I labored with him from that point onwards. I used to be drawn to the passion he confirmed at such a younger age,” Dulshan tells Cricbuzz. Because the years glided by, Dulshan’s dedication to take Dinusha to the very best degree turned a motivation in itself. His personal enjoying profession had stalled due to household hardships, and training turned his means of staying within the recreation.
Dulshan has watched Dinusha play many huge knocks for Mahanama Faculty however one effort from 2020 stands out for him. “He vastly enjoys successful matches and staying on the crease till the very finish. I’ve witnessed many situations the place he has batted by means of to the end to safe a victory. One significantly memorable match was an Beneath-19 Division 1 event recreation towards Richmond Faculty, Galle,” Dulshan recollects. A 19-year-old Dinusha scored an unbeaten 159 off 227 within the two-day fixture in February 2020, with 15 fours and 4 sixes in it.
Dinusha walked in at 20/3 within the eighth over and batted by means of to the top, securing a win on first innings within the 82nd over. The flexibility to bat time that Dinusha has displayed over the past fortnight has its origins in early days like these. He additionally confirmed his recreation consciousness, managing the chase alongside the No.11 with out exposing his companion to an excessive amount of of the strike. Colombo Cricket Membership’s Nisal Akash confronted 11 balls in an undefeated last-wicket stand that stretched for 7.3 overs.
Whereas he was nonetheless at Mahanama faculty, Dinusha made his top notch debut in 2018 for the Colombo Cricket Membership. Ashan Priyanjan, one other former Sri Lanka cricketer, has been related to the membership as a participant, captain and coach, and has watched Dinusha develop into an all-round cricketer. But, Priyanjan goes again to Dinusha’s first-ever recreation for the membership, which has stayed etched in his reminiscence.
“I nonetheless keep in mind he batted out of place at No.3. He is a No.6 batter however for the workforce’s stability he batted at No.3 and bought a half-century towards a great bowling assault,” Priyanjan tells Cricbuzz.
Dinusha scored 173 runs off simply the sweep shot within the two Assessments towards India ©Getty
Dinusha was thrust into first-class cricket simply days earlier than he turned 18, towards a Sinhalese Sports activities Membership assault that includes Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep and Sachitra Senanayake. He nonetheless got here by means of like a seasoned participant.
Dinusha’s cricket schooling has concerned a succession of mentors, every at completely different levels of his life and profession: Kalum Gangodawila, Felix Dias, Alan Rodrigo, Tharanga Dhamika. Most coaches who crossed Dinusha’s path share a standard opinion about him: Dinusha’s profession is constructed as a lot on stellar work-ethic as on the runs he scores, wickets he takes and runs he saves within the subject.
“The primary factor that I noticed in him was he was a really organised cricketer. He was very methodical. He works laborious, he is aware of precisely what he desires. He is aware of what areas he must work on. If there’s any doubt, then he’d come and ask me. But when not, he is aware of precisely what he must do in coaching. He is a really good cricketer,” Gunawardene says.
At each step of the best way, his software has come by means of in his recreation. Dinusha has scored 173 runs off simply the sweep shot within the two Assessments towards India, and when requested about it after Day 4, he provided little or no as an evidence behind this distinctive talent: “I’m good at sweep shot, so I play it. That is all.”
However being good at it hasn’t come in a single day. Hours have gone into perfecting the shot. “He liked enjoying the sweep shot. He’d practice individually within the nets for it. He would end batting after which take throwdowns simply to play the sweep shot,” Priyanjan revealed from their time collectively at CCC.
Sri Lanka’s present head coach Gary Kirsten has a favorite first reminiscence of Dinusha too: “The primary time I actually watched him bat correctly was within the first innings within the West Indies. He got here in at seven and we have been 110 for 5. And he placed on 100 (99) with the captain. And I assumed, ‘jeez, this man can play.’ After which within the second match he bought 92,” Kirsten stated.
The South African, too, was struck by the thoughtfulness behind Dinusha’s batting. “I really like the best way he performs Take a look at cricket. He thinks about it. He performs to his strengths. And he is a brilliant cricketer. So he understands what the bowlers try to do to him. After which he makes use of his skillsets to speak that. I feel this innings (133 off 264)… what he was in a position to obtain, I’d say would go down in Sri Lankan Take a look at cricket historical past as one of many nice saves.”
However there isn’t a resting on the laurels of an unimaginable sequence for Dinusha. Even earlier than he wrapped up his third century in 4 innings, Dinusha was already serious about his subsequent event, and the follow session for it.
“He [Dinusha] referred to as me yesterday [after Day 4 of Colombo Test]. He desires to return follow (on August 28) for the T20 League event for CCC,” Priyanjan says.
On August 31, he’ll be in Panadura – a metropolis 25 kilometres south of Colombo, to function within the Main League 50-over Event for CCC. A day later, he’ll be on the NCC floor in Colombo to prove within the T20 occasion.
Sri Lanka Cricket has a gem on its fingers: a precocious expertise with the gumption to place in all of the grunt work behind the scenes. Sri Lanka’s sturdy cricket construction has performed its half in his rise. It’s now as much as SLC to provide him the liberty to soar on the highest degree.
