There is a good chance that Dunith Wellalage would end up in Rohit Sharma’s dreams after the completion of the India-Sri Lanka Asia Cup game. After all, the 20-year-old bowling all-rounder seemed to be omnipresent during the Super Fours game. He took a five-for, plucked a superlative catch to send Ishan Kishan back to the hut and also composed a crucial unbeaten 42. Yes, he ended up on the losing side, but it was truly Wellalage’s night.
With the ball in hand, he didn’t just impart more than enough revs on the ball with his left-arm spin, but also mixed up his pace and length nicely to keep the batters on their toes. Shubman Gill was castled by a peach – it drifted and then, with an almost electric whir, turned away to rattle the timber. It was just a sign of things to come.
He also showcased bowling smarts. While bowling to Virat Kohli, he shortened his length a touch and allowed the ball to get stuck on a sluggish pitch. All Kohli could do was spoon a catch to the midwicket fielder. In Wellalage’s next over, he was up against another lynchpin of the Indian side, Rohit. This matchup was made more intriguing by the fact that Rohit’s template against spin is based on using his reach rather than the depth of the crease.
But for once Rohit was caught in the crease to an arm-ball and could only hear the rattle of the stumps. On the day, KL Rahul was comfortably India’s best player of spin – his judgment of length was near-perfect, and he used soft hands to deftly manoeuvre the ball into gaps. Just when Rahul looked set for a big score, he too turned out to be one of Wellalage’s victims. When Wellalage dislodged Hardik Pandya as well, he had run through the cream of India’s batting order – taking five of the first six wickets to fall.
The crux of Wellalage’s bowling was his tactical nous. Although a lot of the deliveries were bowled on a good length spot, they seemed to be traversing different trajectories. A few were bowled faster and some slower. A few bounced more and others skidded through. Some of the deliveries turned more, and a few others went on straight. Simply put, it was a complete bowling performance from someone still a novice in international cricket.
Wellalage wasn’t done yet. He almost piloted Sri Lanka to a memorable win. Unfortunately, he was left stranded in the end. It is true that he had his rub of the green, but whenever there was a loose ball on offer, Wellalage took a heavy toll of it. That was an indicator of his sound temperament.
This wasn’t the first time that Wellalage had bamboozled his opponent at the Premadasa. Just over a year ago, in the fifth ODI against Australia, he removed both Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell with sharp turn. Wellalage’s tendency to bowl from slightly wide of the crease and create a bit of an angle also played its part in those dismissals. His maiden ODI wicket was also a big name on the cricketing landscape – Steven Smith.
For the last few years, on YouTube, there has been a video circulating of Wellalage ripping through St Anthony’s College with 11 wickets in a schools’ cricket tournament. On a track that had a green tinge to it, he extracted appreciable turn and also bounce to leave the opposition searching for answers. Fast forward to 2023, and the likes of Kohli, Rohit and Gill were similarly without a solution to the Wellalage puzzle.