Lagatar24 Desk
Colombo, Jan 8: Danushka Gunathilaka, Sri Lanka’s aggressive opening hitter, has opted to retire from Test cricket at the age of 30 in order to concentrate on white-ball formats, the country’s supreme cricket board announced on Saturday.
The batter “will now be focusing on the shorter formats,” according to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). The news comes just days after another 30-year-old batsman, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, announced his desire to retire from international cricket, and a day after the board overturned Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, and Niroshan Dickwella’s one-year bio-security breach punishments with immediate effect.
Gunathilaka hasn’t played a Test match since 2018, after scoring 299 runs, two half-centuries, and a career-best score of 61 in his eight outings.
In limited overs cricket, he has a superior track record.
He has 1,520 runs at an average of 36.19 in 44 One-Day Internationals, and 568 runs at a strike rate of 121.62 in 30 T20Is.
For a bio-security infringement during Sri Lanka’s tour of England last year, Gunathilaka, Mendis, and Dickwella were given a one-year ban from international cricket.
A six-month ban from domestic cricket was also imposed, as well as a fine of almost USD 50,000.
Gunathilaka has a lot of issues with the SLC because of disciplinary concerns. Gunathilaka has been suspended three times since making his international debut in late 2015, the most recent for violating bio-bubble protocols.
