WC warm-up games: Dhananjaya De Silva scores 55 versus Bangladesh
All-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva smoked a valiant half-century in Sri Lanka's first warm-up game against Bangladesh in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. The right-handed batter showcased resilience on a tricky surface and ended up scoring 55 off 79 balls. His knock was studded with two boundaries and a maximum. Here we look at his stats.
An important knock from de Silva
After a fiery start from the top-order batters, SL lost a flurry of wickets as the Tigers roared back. De Silva, who arrived to bat at number five, rebuilt the innings with his précised batting. Though the scoring rate came down drastically, de Silva did not throw his wicket away. However, he failed to convert his fifty into a big score.
De Silva would be crucial to SL's plans
With de Silva being an off-spinning all-rounder, he offers balance to the XI. He hence would be critical to SL's success at the mega event. As he has been placed in the lower-middle order, the right-handed batter's big-hitting skills will also be tested. De Silva, however, owns an ODI strike rate of 78.8.
Here are his ODI numbers
The 32-year-old, who made his ODI debut in June 2016, has raced to 1,725 runs in 82 appearances at an average of 26.54. The tally includes 10 half-centuries. More than half of his runs have come at home. With his off-spin, de Silva has picked up 44 ODI wickets at an excellent economy rate of 4.95.
His recent form
De Silva's preceding assignment was the 2023 Asia Cup where he endured a hard time. He could manage just 72 runs across six innings at 12. With the ball, he scalped three wickets at an economy rate of 3.82.
