Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka overcomes visa issues, to feature in ODI series vs West Indies
Sri Lanka's T20I captain Dasun Shanaka will travel via France to West Indies on March 7 to join Sri Lanka's ODI team for the three-match series against the Caribbean outfit. Shanaka missed playing in the ongoing three-match T20I series against the same outfit due to visa issues.
Dasun Shanaka was expected to lead the island nation in the T20Is against the West Indies, but Angelo Mathews is filling in for him as the former was unable to join the squad. Sri Lanka levelled the T20 series at 1-1 after their recent win by 43 runs.
This was supposed to be Dasun Shanaka's first full-time assignment as a T20 captain. Unfortunately,, he had to miss the entire three-match series. Sri Lanka Cricket had released a statement earlier which read:
"Shanaka did not travel with the team due to a visa issue he confronted, pursuant to the loss of his previous passport, which had a valid visa for the USA stamped on it."
Sri Lanka named a 20-man squad for the white-ball leg of the tour to West Indies, with Dimuth Karunaratne set to lead the side in ODIs. The 50-over series starts on March 10 which will be followed by a two-match Test series.
Dasun Shanaka's ODI career at a glance
The 29-year-old is still in the early stages of his ODI career as he has played just 22 games for his country. However, he is already seen as a huge talent. The all-rounder averages 26 with the bat and 27.40 with the ball in ODIs. Shanaka's strike rate with the bat stands out as and is an impressive 115.84.
After missing out in the T20I series under unfortunate circumstances, Shanaka will be keen to deliver in the ODI series.
Sri Lanka's record against West Indies in ODIs
Sri Lanka and West Indies have squared up against each other 61 times in the 50-over format. The Asian outfit leads the head-to-head marginally with 30 wins to West Indies' 28. Three matches ended in no result.