Sri Lanka’s Sonal Dinusha has entered the record books after becoming the first Asian batter to score 50 or more runs in each of his first four Test innings against India.
The left-handed batter achieved the milestone on Thursday, August 27, during the fifth day of the second Test between Sri Lanka and India at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.
Dinusha had made an impressive start to his Test career against India, scoring 100 and 84 in the opening Test at Galle. He continued his run in the ongoing match, hitting 103 in Sri Lanka’s first innings before completing another half-century in the second innings.
He reached the 50-run mark from 99 balls during the morning session on Day 5. Before Dinusha, England’s Ken Barrington was the last batter to score at least 50 in each of his first four Test innings against India. Barrington accomplished the feat in 1959.The list of players to achieve the milestone also includes England’s Douglas Jardine and West Indies greats Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott.
Jardine scored 79, 85 not out, 60 and 61 in his first four innings against India between 1932 and 1934. Weekes recorded scores of 128, 194, 162 and 101 in his first four innings in 1948, while Walcott registered 152, 68, 54 and 108 during the same series.Barrington’s four scores were 56, 80, 80 and 87 in 1959. Dinusha’s sequence currently stands at 100, 84, 103 and 50 not out, giving him a place among an elite group of batters to have achieved the feat against India.The Sri Lankan could create another piece of history if he converts his second-innings half-century into a hundred. A century would make Dinusha the first cricketer to score three centuries in his first two Tests against India.
Among Sri Lankan batters, only Duleep Mendis has previously scored two centuries in his first two Tests against India. Mendis achieved the feat with two hundreds in his debut Test against India.