Sri Lanka batting coach hinted at promoting Dasun Shanaka.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka is among the most ferocious hitters of the ball and has mostly batted as a finisher. However, he was recently promoted to No.5 in the second T20I against England, but his stay was rather disappointing, as he was dismissed on a solitary run in six deliveries.
Sri Lanka’s batting coach Vikram Rathour explained the reasoning behind the move, stating that the idea was to give Shanaka a position where he has no pressure and gets more balls. He also indicated that they might do it again in future, possibly at the T20 World Cup 2026.
“We wanted to give him an opportunity when there was no pressure on him. Because what is happening with him is that we want him not get out and also hit. So, that is sometimes tough to do. But that was something we tried as a batting unit, and we might do that again sometime, because I think he is a really, really impressive stroke player, and if he comes good at that position, you could have put up a par plus score, actually.”
Since 2025, Dasun Shanaka has played 18 T20I innings and batted at No.5 only five times, scoring 106 runs at an average of 35.33 and a strike rate of 143.24, with a fifty. Around 72.22% of his outings have been at No.6 or below, where he has collectively struck at 134.05 and found a boundary every 6.27.
So, Shanaka’s performances definitely get boosted when he has a few more balls to face, but Sri Lanka will need to look at other batting resources as well before giving him a promotion. If he bats at No.5, Charith Asalanka will need to be demoted to No.6, where he has an average of 14.66 and a strike rate of 102.32 across eight T20I innings.
The top four are settled, with Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis, and Pavan Rathnayake, and changing any of those slots will complicate things further. So, while Shanaka’s numbers are fairly decent at No.5, Sri Lanka can’t afford to push Asalanka below due to his inability to go hard from the first ball.
A major issue that immediately came to the fore when Shanaka batted at No.5 against England was his inability to rotate strike against spinners. All of his six deliveries were against spin, where he played four dot balls before eventually getting out.
Even in general, the Sri Lankan captain doesn’t boast an encouraging spin record; he strikes at 107.74 and hits a boundary every 10.14 against slow bowlers since 2025. Additionally, he averages a mere 17 and plays 35.91% dot balls.
Charith Asalanka’s numbers are not great either: 103.79 strike rate and 13.16 balls-per-boundary ratio. However, he still has a better game against slow bowlers on tricky decks, and these numbers are so bad because of the nature of the pitches in Sri Lanka.
Early trends show spinners won’t have as much assistance as they get in general, so Asalanka shouldn’t have too many issues. Moreover, he will act as an RHB-splitter at No.5, since Sri Lanka will have three right-hand batters in the top four and would want at least one more somewhere in the middle order.
Another thing is that Shanaka brings more power against pace, as his strike rate of 181.22 and balls-per-boundary ratio of 3.80 suggest, compared to Asalanka’s 160 and 4.42, since 2025. He can power pacers even on slightly tacky decks as well. Hence, Shanaka must continue in the lower order, even if that means he does the tougher role.
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