Dasun Shanaka smashed his 2nd international century in the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka on Tuesday. In the last over of the match, Shanaka who was on 98 runs was run out on the non-striker's end by Mohammed Shami. However, after a discussion with Rohit Sharma, the appeal of run-out was withdrawn and Shanaka went on to score 108 runs.
What was the incident?
It happened in the fourth ball of the final over of Sri Lanka's stiff run chase of 374 when Shanaka was two runs away from his century. Shanaka backed up Kasun Rajitha too far and Shami ran him out from the non-striker's end. But Rohit came in and withdrew the appeal after a brief conversation with Shami. Shanaka took the strike next ball and completed his century with a boundary.
Showing the sportsmanship spirit, Rohit expressed the reason of taking back the appeal.
"I had no idea Shami did that (run-out), he was batting on 98. The way he batted was brilliant, we couldn't get him out like that. Not something that we thought off, hats off to him, he played really well," Rohit said during the post-match press conference.
Shanaka's ton
Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a brilliant ton off just 87 balls. His knock of 108 runs in the game included 12 boundaries and three sixes. This was Shanaka's 2nd ODI ton.He registered his maiden century in the previous year back in January against Zimbabwe.
"I think the start their openers gave, we didn't use the new ball well, unlike their bowlers who got it to swing. We did have a plan, but the bowler's didn't execute the basics right. We didn't use variations during the first 10 overs. (With the bat) I think I'm doing the basics well, I think I should bat higher in the T20Is, but the team needs me to bat at 6 with Bhanuka at 5," Shanaka said.
Sent to bat first by Sri Lanka, India set a target of 374 runs and registered a victory in the first game of the three-match ODI series by 67 runs.
