5 upcoming all-rounders in world cricket to look out for

Dasun Shanaka – Sri Lanka

In Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka have found a versatile all-rounder

On the first morning of a Test series that was expected to (and was, in the end) be dominated by the home side, Dasun Shanaka, a dibbly-dobbly bowler – a class dispelled upon by the elite English, and to prevent the menace of which it was decided to do away with the toss in the England’s 50-over domestic championship – was running riot, as he had dismissed three of the top 4 Englishmen (Alastair Cook, Nick Compton, and Joe Root) and had helped his team reduce the home side to 83/6 before Lunch. That it was the only phase throughout the three-test series that Sri Lanka looked to have had the upper hand, speaks in abundance about the travails that the country’s cricket faces at the moment.

Having said that, the sheen mustn’t be taken away from the young men who, in five years from now, can be some of the potential match-winners that the country faces a scarcity of at the moment. Shanaka’s numbers of 710 runs from 35 T20 games at 28.40 and a strike-rate of 153.34 prove that he is no mug with the bat and has the potential to score quick runs lower down the order. In addition to that, the 24-year-old’s first-class batting average of 38.16 (1374 runs from 32 games) and bowling average of 26.20 (29 wickets from 32 games) prove that he isn’t a customer suited only to the shortest format of the game. The ability to move the ball in the air and off the pitch and mix it up with slower deliveries can make him a lynchpin for the side across formats if he is given a long run at the international level.