Akila Dananjaya

Akila Dananjaya
අකිල ධනංජය
Personal information
Full name Mahamarakkala Kurukulasooriya Patabendige Akila Dananjaya Perera
Born 4 October 1993
Panadura, Basnahira, Sri Lanka
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Batting style Left-handed
Bowling style Right-arm off break
Role All-rounder
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2012–present Wayamba United
2013-present Chennai Super Kings
Career statistics
Competition T20I FC List A T20
Matches 5 15 28 18
Runs scored 0 234 10 1
Batting average – 23.40 5.00 0.33
100s/50s 0/0 0/2 0/0 0/0
Top score 0* 52 5* 1*
Balls bowled 84 1,901 991 354
Wickets 7 47 20 22
Bowling average 13.57 25.44 35.35 16.77
5 wickets in innings 0 1 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 2/9 7/139 4/31 3/18
Catches/stumpings 1/– 4/– 7/– 2/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 23 December 2014

Mahamarakkala Kurukulasooriya Patabendige Akila Dananjaya Perera (born 4 October 1993 in Panadura, Western Province) is a Sri Lankan cricketer. The son of a carpenter from Panadura, Dananjaya is another installment of Sri Lanka's long line of unorthodox spinners. Officially a left-hand batsman and an off-break bowler, he is said to have seven variations, including the leg-break, googly, carrom ball, doosra and his stock off-spinner that had impressed national team captain Mahela Jayawardene so much in the nets as to make Jayawardene request him to be fast-tracked into the national squad.[1] Dhananjaya had at that point played no first-class, List A, T20 or even U-19 cricket. This in turn led to controversy as his selection was questioned by the media on the basis of a net performance.[2]

He was selected to play for Wayamba United in the inaugural Sri Lanka Premier League. In only his second match for the franchise, he took 3-18 against Nagenahira Nagas, consistently disturbing the batsmen with his flight, googly and other variations.[3] This in turn led to a place in the final squad for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20.[4] In the 2013 IPL auctions, Dananjaya was sold to the Chennai Super Kings for his base price of $20,000.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Akila Dananjaya on Cricinfo Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 August 2012
  2. ↑ Who is Akila Dananjaya? Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 August 2012
  3. ↑ Jayawardene's 96 keeps Wayamba on top Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 August 2012
  4. ↑ Rookie spinner Dananjaya gets World T20 call-up Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 August 2012
  5. ↑ CSK in the 2013 IPL Auction Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 April 2013

External links