-Vinay Kumar
Sri Lankan cricket team batsman Danushka Gunathilaka announced his retirement from international Test cricket on 7 January 2022. The most notable thing about this retirement was that exactly 6 years ago, on 7 January 2016, he made his international debut with the T20 International match played against New Zealand.
Sri Lankan opener Danushka Gunathilaka last played a Test match in 2018. He could not make his place in Sri Lanka’s Test team due to his continuous poor performance. It is worth noting that two days ago, another player Bhanuka Rajapakse suddenly announced his retirement from international cricket.
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Now the talk of Danushka Gunathilaka’s retirement is certainly a setback for Sri Lankan cricket. Remind you that the Sri Lanka Cricket Board has also banned Danushka Gunatilaka for one year. Remind you that Danushka Gunathilaka, along with two other members of the Sri Lankan team, Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella, violated the rules of bio bubble during the tour of England in June 2021. . Because of which Sri Lanka Cricket Board banned him from playing international cricket for one year.
Shortly after the news of Danushka Gunathilaka’s retirement, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board immediately lifted the ban imposed against three other players. Obviously, now all three Mendis, Dickwella and Gunatilaka will be available to tour Zimbabwe.
Left-handed batsman Danushka Gunathilaka has played only 8 Test matches in his international career so far, in which he scored 299 runs. His average in Test cricket was 18.7. During this, only 2 half-centuries came out from his bat. In limited overs cricket, he appeared in 44 One Day Internationals and 30 T20 Internationals. In which he scored 1520 runs at an average of 36.19 in ODIs and 568 runs in T20s at an average of 19.58.
Danushka Gunathilaka also gave the reason for the sudden announcement of retirement. He cited the conditions of the fitness level of Sri Lanka cricket in the current era as the reason.
Significantly, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board has recently made several changes in the benchmark for the 2 km run test, from 8 minutes 53 seconds to 8 minutes 10 seconds. This was also the reason for the announcement of the retirement of Bhanuka Rajapakse.
Danushka Gunathilaka told a news agency, “It has always been an honor to play for my country. I hope that whenever I am called for cricket, I will be ready to give my best.”