Bhanuka Rajapaksa Stats, Family, Under-19, Controversy

Sri Lanka cricketer, Bhanuka Rajapaksa made his debut in ODIs against India on Sunday. He announced his arrival with a six against Yuzvendra Chahal, giving a glimpse of his destructive brand. He scored 24 runs off 22 balls before getting out off Kuldeep Yadav.

Bhunuka Rajapaksa, though, made his T20 international debut against Pakistan in 2019. In the second ODI, he impressed one and all with a 77-run knock off 48 balls.

The Sri Lankan batsman had to grind for almost 1 decade to make his international debut. He has scored a plethora of runs in domestic cricket and has played more than 100 hundred List-A matches.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa Stats

Rajapaksa began his cricket career as a student of Royal College Colombo. He was an integral part of the Royal College team, playing both a batsman as well as a dependable medium pace bowler. His hobbies include squash and swimming.

Bhunuka Rajapaksa is one of the most consistent run-scorer in Sri Lanka’s domestic circuit.

First-Class cricket

Matches	Runs	Average	Hundreds
77	4087	66.5	9

In 77 first-class matches, he has managed to score 4087 runs at an average of 36.5. In 115 List-A matches, he has 2950 runs, averaging 39.1.

T20 Internationals

Matches	Runs	Average	Highest Score
7	140	28	77

At the international level, he has experience of 7 T20 matches, in which he has managed to score 140 runs at an average of 28.

Under-19 World Cup

Bhanuka Rajapaksa first came into prominence after his heroics with the bat in the 2010 under-19 World Cup. He finished the tournament as the highest run-scorer for Sri Lanka, scoring 253 runs.

Only three more players scored runs more than him, namely Dominic Hendricks, Babar Azam, and Kraigg Brathwaite. Dominic Hendricks top-scored in the tournament, scoring 391 runs in 6 matches at an average of 97.75.

Matches	Runs	Average	Highest Score
6	253	63.25	79

Controversy

Bhanuka Rajapaksa was left out from the squad for the West Indies and England tour for failing to achieve fitness standards. Later in an interview on Youtube, he criticized the selectors’ decision to leave him out from the squad. He stated that a player should be judged on his on-field performances instead of fitness levels. Later, head coach, Mickey Arther revealed that he failed to comply with the skin fold tests in order to fulfill the required fitness levels. He also labeled him as a ‘comfort zone cricketer’.