The 23-year-old Sri Lankan opener Nuwanidu Fernando played a brilliant knock on his ODI debut but was then unfortunately run out. He was out of the team for some time and finally made his international debut in the second ODI of the three-match series against India at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
In the match, Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and decided to bat first. They made two changes to the playing XI as Nuwanidu Fernando came in for the injured Pathum Nissanka and Lahiru Kumara replaced the injured seamer Dilshan Madushanka. Nuwanidu Fernando opened the innings along with Avishka Fernando and they displayed a batting masterclass on their debut. Nuwanidu was fluent with the bat against a strong Indian bowling attack.
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The 23-year-old scored a half-century on his ODI debut and became the 6th Sri Lankan batsman after Ashan Priyanjan, Chamara Silva, Sunil Watimuni, Kusal Mendis and Ashen Bandara to achieve the feat. Nuwanidu’s innings ended in a most unfortunate way as he was run out on the first ball of the 22nd over, which was bowled by left-arm spinner Akshar Patel.
The spinner bowled a length ball on the off stump and the Sri Lankan batsman went down the track and smashed the ball towards mid-wicket and attempted a single. The ball fell just short of a diving Shubman Gill, but he managed to collect the ball and fired a fine throw towards wicket-keeper KL Rahul, who removed the bails while the batsman was well away from the crease.
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Notably, both Nuwanidu and Charith Aslanka were looking at the ball and Nuwanidu Fernando was already three-quarters down when Aslanka sent him back. Overall, Nuwanidu Fernando scored an impressive 50 off 63 balls with 6 fours on his debut.
Watch the video of Nuwanidu Fernando’s dismissal here:
