Madushka marks arrival in white ball cricket

• Sixth Lankan cricketer to score 50 on ODI debut

Sa’adi Thawfeeq 

reporting from Pallekele

Having made his mark in red ball cricket with some sterling performances in the domestic sphere and in the limited number of Tests he’s played so far, Nishan Madushka marked his arrival to white ball cricket for his country by scoring a splendid half-century on debut to help Sri Lanka beat West Indies by five wickets under the DLS method and take 1-0 lead in the 3-match series played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.  

His knock of 69 off 54 balls made him the sixth Sri Lankan cricketer to score a fifty in an ODI debut. With his Captain Charith Asalanka who also scored a fifty, Madushka put together a match-winning stand of 137 off 109 balls to enable Sri Lanka chase down a target of 232 in 37 overs.

Madushka and Asalanka played for the same champion team Colombo in the NSL Limited Over tournament prior to this series and had a good understanding between them.

Madushka hit the highest innings score in the tournament 164 for Colombo against Kandy, but a fortnight later it was eclipsed by Asalanka who slammed a double century (206) against Jaffna.

In three matches, Madushka aggregated 219 (avg.73.00) at a healthy strike rate of 109.50 sounding the selectors of his ability to be equally successful in white ball cricket as well.   Batting with Asalanka, made Madushka’s task easy after Sri Lanka had lost three wickets for 45 inside the first powerplay.

“I got set with my captain and he shared a lot of his experience with me in the middle which made batting easy,” said Madushka. “He told me to play my normal game. To rotate the strike and hit the loose balls. The advice I got from him made it easy for me. He asked me to drag the game as long as possible. That helped me to play with a positive mind set.”

“The West Indies bowling was good but because of the rain I think they found it difficult to grip the ball, so there was less spin. We got some advantage over that.”

Strangely, it was because of a quad strain to Pathum Nissanka that Madushka found himself making his ODI debut. A few months back it was to Nissanka that he lost his opener’s berth in the third Test against England at the Oval. How ironic. The 25-year-old right-hander from Moratuwa said that he did not feel any pressure playing his first ODI game, because of the experience of having played Test cricket and in the NSL fifty-over prior to the series.

“I came into the ODI on the experience I’ve gained playing Test cricket. I had also played in the NSL 50-over tournament,” said Madushka.

“Initially I planned to play my normal game. I didn’t have any plans of scoring a fifty but played according to the situation. The wicket became settled, and it became easy to bat. I didn’t put anything big into my head. I try to perform at every match I play. That I was able to do that today makes me happy.”

Madushka gave initial glimpses of his vast talent in the domestic sphere where he became the leading run-getter in the Major League tournament in 2022 accumulating 1229 runs (avg. 94.53) for Ragama CC with five centuries that included a career best triple century (300*) against Sebastianites at Thurstan College grounds.

On the back of his performances in the domestic sphere he was selected to represent Sri Lanka ‘A’ against the touring England Lions. He did not disappoint being Sri Lanka’s top run getter in the two-match unofficial test series with 364 runs (avg. 91.00) with two centuries, which included a double hundred (241) in the second game. On the strength of these performances, he was selected for the tour to New Zealand as reserve wicket-keeper to Niroshan Dickwella, whom he eventually displaced in the second Test at Wellington where he made his Test debut. He continued in this role for the home Test series against Ireland when he scored his maiden Test century – a double hundred (205) in the second Test at Galle.

Madushka played a further 7 Tests as Dimuth Karunaratne’ opening partner until a sequence of low scores where he failed to cross 50 in 14 innings saw him lose his opener’s berth to Pathum Nissanka.

Nevertheless, Madushka continued his impressive form in the domestic circuit turning his attention to white ball cricket where in the recently concluded NSL 50-over tournament he helped Colombo win the championship turning in some eye-catching performances, which has led eventually to his inclusion in the Sri Lanka ODI squad.