Sri Lanka’s skipper Dasun Shanaka has been enjoying a great run of form in the ongoing three-match T20I series against India. Shanaka is leading the Islanders by example, as his all-round performance helped the tourists level the T20I series at 1-1 against Team India.
The Sri Lankan all-rounder amassed 101 runs in 2 T20Is at an incredible strike rate of 206.12. Reacting to Shanaka's brilliant form in the T20I series, former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir said that Shanaka would have been the hottest pick if the ongoing T20I series had happened before the IPL 2023 auction.
Shanaka had put his name in the IPL 2023 auction, but he went unsold, and Gambhir, the LSG mentor, said that the franchises would have gone heavily after the Sri Lankan at the auction if the ongoing T20I series was scheduled before the mini-auction that took place on December 23 in Kochi.
Gautam Gambhir said on Star Sports: “I won’t have money, he would be that expensive, the way he has batted. That is what the auction is all about. Imagine if this series had happened just before the auction, some of the franchises would probably not have had the money to buy him.”
Notably, Shanaka played a brilliant knock of 45 runs off 27 balls during Sri Lanka’s 2-run defeat against India in the first T20I and then smoked 56* off 22 balls as well as snared two wickets to take his team to a T20I series-levelling 16-run win in the second T20I.
(With Star Sports Inputs)
