Amidst the lacklustre show of Sri Lanka in the 2017, particularly in ODI Cricket, the opening pair of Danushka Gunathilika and Niroshan Dickwella gave fans something to cheer. They are the best friends on and off the field, and that chemistry was evident, whenever they batted together.
At the top of the order, they were devastating, and more importantly Consistent too. They formed Two consecutive double hundred partnerships against Zimbabwe just after the Champions trophy, which is a world record. In all, they batted together in 9 innings and amassed 618 runs with a stunning average of 68.66.
However, When Gunathilika found himself on the wrong end for misbehaviour during India series in September, Team management brought Upul Tharanga as a opening partner of Dickwella. But, Comically, now as Gunathilika has returned into the team, management persisted with Tharanga at the top of the order, and pushed Dickwella to middle order.
As a result, Sri Lanka top order once again is looking out of sorts during the ongoing ODI series against India. The newly opted opening duo of Gunathilika and Tharanga put 7 in first ODI and 15 in the second for the first wicket.
Simply, The team management is responsible for disturbing the pair of Gunathilika and Dickwella, especially at the time when they had started to prosper. Asanka Gurusinha, the Multitasking man of SLC, must answer about this unnecessary reshuffle. He is the manager of the team and on overseas tours, he is the one who take decisions, as he is also the selector. He is also like an unofficial spokesperson of the team, though this is a different matter.
Right now, Gurusinha and Co has unnecessarily disturbed the top order, especially when both Gunathilika and Dickwella are playing in team, but on different positions.
