Avishka Gunawardene

- B.V.Swagath

Avishka Gunawardene is a similar kind of batsman like Sanath Jayasuriya; only difference is that Gunawardene is more an off side oriented player. In short, one can rate Avishka as a batsman who is half-as-dangerous as Sanath.

Avishka recently played his 50th One Day International against India at Colombo in the Asia Cup. Gunawardene has scored just over 1500 ODI runs with 9 fifties and a hundred. His only hundred came against the West Indies at Nairobi, Kenya in the ICC Knock Out Tournament in 2000/01. Gunawardene hasn’t cemented his place in the test side, but he looks to have cemented his place in the One-day line up for Sri Lanka. Avishka has a long way to go as a top class batsman, his defence against better bowling attacks has always been found wanting.

But Avishka Gunawardene is certainly an exciting batsman who takes the medium pacers to the cleaners with his bludgeoning shots. With Jayasuriya into his mid thirties, Avishka Gunawardene must be expected to fill the void left by Jayasuriya, once Sanath decides to call it a day.

 

Statistics of Avishka Gunawardene's Career :