Dinesh Chandimal has been Sri Lanka’s most consistent performers in 2015 © AFP
Sri Lanka ended their 2011 journey on a high, as the runner ups as India lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. From a position of one of the highly ranked cricket teams, Sri Lanka observed an abrupt decline following a number of retirements. Most of the globally acclaimed Lankan cricketers had bid goodbye to international cricket and by the end of 2015 World Cup, skipper Angelo Mathews had a huge responsibility of building a team from scratch. Apart from himself — dependable member of the squad — the other that Mathews found was Dinesh Chandimal. After having a not-so-mentionable 2014, Chandimal came back strong in 2015 becoming the backbone of Sri Lankan batting. Chandimal scored a much needed 47 in the first innings of second Test against New Zealand while the top-order failed and helped Sri Lanka get to a respectable position. On that note, Paulami Chakraborty analyses Chandimal’s performances for the year. Live Cricket Scorecard: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 2015-16, 2nd Test at Hamilton
2015 began with Sri lanka touring New Zealand just ahead of the World Cup. The series included 2 Tests and three One-Day Internationals (ODI). Sri Lanka lost both the Tests but Chandimal’s 67 in the first innings of the second Test at Wellington at No. 7 was a positive for his team. He did not find a place in the playing XI in the first Test at Christchurch. The only other player to go past 50 in that innings was Kumar Sangakkara who scored a whopping 203. Live Cricket Updates: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 2015-16, 2nd Test, Day 1 at Hamilton
The next was ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which ended on a disappointing note for Sri Lanka as they failed to qualify for the Semi-final. Chandimal’s unbeaten 52 against Australia in a pressure situation again was a notable effort. He retired hurt and Sri Lanka lot the match.
The following tour of Pakistan to Sri Lanka was not as well a fruitful one for the hosts as it was for the tourists as Pakistan won the Test, ODI and T20I series but Chandimal’s effort down the order was quite commendable.
Skipper Mathews elevated Chandimal one step in the batting order and sent him at No. 6 in the second innings of the first Test against India at Galle and Chandimal played his best knock of his career so far. Chandimal not only saved the Lankans from a disappointing situation of 95 for 5 but also gifted them a 63-run victory with his unbeaten 162. He became the fastest wicketkeeper to score 1000 Test runs. But he failed to make any other impact with his performance in the series and Sri Lanka went on to lose the series 1-2.
Sri Lanka won their first series in the year 2015 with the Sobbers-Tissera Trophy defeating the visiting West Indies by 2-0. Chandimal was sent up the order — at No. 4 — and again played a class knock of 151 in the first Test to help his team win by an innings.
Chandimal continued his good run of form in the ongoing series against New Zealand. He scored 83 in the first innings of the first Test at Dunedin and followed it up with 58 in the second innings becoming the highest run-getter for his side in the match. Sri Lanka lost the match 122 runs, but found a dependable batsman, on whom lies the future of Sri Lankan batting.
(Paulami Chakraborty, a singer, dancer, artist, and photographer, loves the madness of cricket and writes about the game. She can be followed on Twitter at @Polotwitts)