Bhanuka Rajapaksa

Pramod Bhanuka Bandara Rajapaksa, popularly known as Bhanuka Rajapaksa (born 24 October 1991), is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer, who plays Twenty20 Internationals for Sri Lanka. He is a left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm medium-fast. He was born in Colombo. Despite a prolific domestic career, Rajapaksa only made his international debut when he was called up for the T20I series against Pakistan in 2019, ten years after his first-class debut.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Personal information
Full namePramod Bhanuka Bandara Rajapaksa
Born (1991-10-24) 24 October 1991
Colombo, Sri Lanka
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium-fast
RoleBatsman
International information
National side
T20I debut (cap 83)5 October 2019 v Pakistan
Last T20I7 January 2020 v India
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2009/10Barisal Division
2009/10Sinhalese Sports Club
2020Galle Gladiators
Career statistics
Competition T20I FC LA T20
Matches 7 67 107 53
Runs scored 140 3,252 2,708 1,007
Batting average 28.00 34.23 30.08 23.97
100s/50s 0/1 7/14 3/15 0/6
Top score 77 268 107 79
Balls bowled – 1,882 534 210
Wickets – 34 13 17
Bowling average – 29.52 32.00 15.35
5 wickets in innings – 0 0 0
10 wickets in match – 0 0 0
Best bowling – 4/59 2/16 3/18
Catches/stumpings 0/– 58/– 43/2 13/–
Source: Cricinfo, 7 January 2020

Early career

Rajapaksa began his cricket career as a student of Royal College Colombo. He was a key player in the Royal College team as both a batsman as well as a dependable medium pace bowler. His other sporting interests include squash and swimming.

Rajapaksa was selected for the 2010 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand as a batsman. He finished as the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka in the tournament with 253 runs. He had an excellent tour of Australia with the U19 team in 2009, smashing 154 off 111 balls in the second U19 ODI, and ending the series as the leading run-scorer.[1][2] He compares his batting style to Adam Gilchrist. His score of 154* is the second-highest individual score for Sri Lanka in U19 ODI cricket. Rajapaksa was the first Sri Lankan U19 cricketer to score 150 in a U19 ODI innings.[3] He was also the first Sri Lankan U19 player to amass 1000 Youth ODI runs.[4]

In 2011, Bhanuka became only the fourth [5] individual to be adjudged as the 'Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year' twice in the country's premier school sector awarding ceremony, the Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year. He was also adjudged the Young Emerging Player of the Under 19 Category at the CEAT Sri Lanka Cricket Awards 2011.

Domestic career

In domestic cricket, Rajapaksa initially represented the Sinhalese Sports Club in Sri Lankan domestic cricket and has also played for Barisal Blazers in Bangladesh's NCL T20 Bangladesh.[6]

In April 2018, he was named in Galle's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.[7] In August 2018, he was named in Kandy's squad the 2018 SLC T20 League.[8] In March 2019, he was named in Dambulla's squad for the 2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.[9]

During 2019 Premier season, Rajapaksa scored a career high 268 in 173 balls vs Ports Authorities for BRC at Moors Grounds, hitting 19 sixes and 22 fours in the innings. During Sri Lanka A's tour of India in 2019, in the 2nd unofficial test vs India A, Rajapaksa scored 110 runs in 112 balls with 17 fours and 3 sixes at KSCA grounds, Hubli.

In October 2020, he was drafted by the Galle Gladiators for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League.[10]

International career

In September 2019, he was named in Sri Lanka's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the series against Pakistan in Pakistan.[11] He made his T20I debut for Sri Lanka against Pakistan on 5 October 2019, scoring 32 runs off 22 balls in a 64 run victory.[12][13] In the second match, Rajapaksa scored 77 runs off 48 balls as Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by 35 runs. He was adjudged the player of the match for his batting performance.[14]

References
  1. "2nd Youth ODI: Australia Under-19s v Sri Lanka Under-19s at Darwin, Oct 4, 2009 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  2. "Maddinson ton in vain as Sri Lanka triumph". Cricinfo. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  3. "Cricket Records | Records | Sri Lanka Under-19s | Under-19s Youth One-Day Internationals | High scores | ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  4. "Sri Lanka Under-19s Cricket Team Records & Stats | ESPNcricinfo.com". Cricinfo. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Teams Bhanuka Rajapaksa played for
  7. "SLC Super Provincial 50 over tournament squads and fixtures". The Papare. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  8. "SLC T20 League 2018 squads finalized". The Papare. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  9. "Squads, Fixtures announced for SLC Provincial 50 Overs Tournament". The Papare. 19 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  10. "Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Shahid Afridi among big names taken at LPL draft". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  11. "Sri Lanka ODI and T20I Squads for Pakistan tour". Sri Lanka Cricket. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  12. "1st T20I (N), Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan at Lahore, Oct 5 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  13. "Danushka Gunathilaka, Nuwan Pradeep help second-string Sri Lanka rout No. 1 ranked Pakistan". Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  14. "Hasaranga, Rajapaksa star as Sri Lanka spring another surprise on Pakistan". Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
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