Delhi: Sri Lankan batsman Sonal Dinusha made a special record in her name by batting brilliantly in the first innings of the second test against India. On the third day of the Colombo Test, Dinusha remained unbeaten after scoring 85 runs. With this, he became only the third batsman in the world to score 80 or more runs in his first three Test innings against India.
Before Dinusha, only West Indies legend Everton Weeks and Pakistan's great batsman Zaheer Abbas were able to achieve this feat. Dinusha had scored 100 runs in his first Test innings against India and 84 runs in the second innings. Now by playing an unbeaten inning of 85 runs in the third innings, he made a place in this special club.
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This happened for the first time since 1978
Dinusha is the first batsman after Zaheer Abbas to score 80 or more runs in his first three Test innings against India.
Abbas had scored 176, 96 and 235 not out in his first three Test innings against India 48 years ago. Whereas, Everton Weeks had played innings of 128, 194 and 162 runs in 1948.
Third consecutive 50+ score against India
Dinusha has scored more than 50 consecutive runs in his first three Test innings against India. He is only the second Sri Lankan batsman to do so. Before him, Duleep Mendis had scored 105, 105 and 51 runs in his first three Test innings against India.
Dinusha showed strength against spin
Sonal Dinusha has made excellent use of sweep shots against the Indian spin bowlers in this series. He has scored 106 runs against spin with sweep, slog sweep and reverse sweep.
Dinusha also batted with patience in this innings against India and along with the lower order, got Sri Lanka out of trouble. He made an unbeaten partnership of 57 runs for the eighth wicket with Keshara Nuvantha and an unbeaten 35-run partnership with Lahiru Kumara for the ninth wicket.
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By the end of the third day's play, Sri Lanka's score was 265 runs for 8 wickets. The team is still 238 runs behind India's first innings score of 503/9. Sri Lanka still need 38 more runs to avoid follow-on.