Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has praised Sri Lankan batter Pavan Rathnayake for his impressive strokeplay against England during Sri Lanka’s historic ODI victory in Rawalpindi, while questioning why the youngster has yet to receive an opportunity in Test cricket.
Rathnayake scored a brilliant 130 off 106 deliveries, including 15 fours and three sixes, helping Sri Lanka successfully chase a target of 430 against England on October 22.
Sri Lanka completed the second-highest successful run chase in ODI history, winning by two wickets with one ball remaining. Rathnayake was named Player of the Match.
Speaking on his cricket programme, Ashwin said he had watched highlights of Rathnayake’s innings and was impressed by the young batter’s technique, shot selection and ability to play spin bowling.
“He plays spin superbly. Look at the way he was taking on Liam Dawson, hitting him through extra cover,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin also discussed Rathnayake’s approach against England’s pace attack, particularly Jamie Overton.
“When Jamie Overton was bowling early on, he got a little high on the ball while playing the pull shot,” he observed.
Despite that observation, Ashwin was impressed by Rathnayake’s overall batting performance and described Sri Lanka’s emerging batting talent as encouraging.
“I watched some of his highlights. Suddenly, Sri Lanka is producing a lot of exciting batting talent. It is very, very promising for them,” Ashwin said.
He also admitted that Sri Lanka’s successful pursuit of England’s massive total had surprised him.
“Honestly, nobody expected Sri Lanka to chase that target. I certainly didn’t expect it,” he said.
Ashwin compared Sri Lanka’s emergence of promising batters with the challenges Australia has faced in developing consistent batting talent.
“We were just talking about Australia not producing enough batting talent, and suddenly Sri Lanka is bringing through players like Sonal Dinusha, Pavan Rathnayake,” he said.
The former Indian spinner also questioned why Rathnayake had not been selected for Test cricket despite his impressive first-class performances.
Highlighting the batter’s domestic record, Ashwin noted that Rathnayake had scored more than 4,200 runs in 64 first-class matches at an average of nearly 50, including a highest score of 240.
He particularly praised Rathnayake’s first-class strike rate of approximately 67, describing him as a busy batter capable of rotating the strike consistently.
Ashwin suggested that Rathnayake’s ability to score at a healthy rate, combined with his consistency in domestic cricket, made him a strong candidate for Sri Lanka’s Test team.
He also raised concerns about Sri Lanka’s management of talented players, suggesting that uncertainty over selection and inconsistent opportunities could affect their confidence and development.
Ashwin said Sri Lanka possesses considerable batting talent but needs to ensure promising players receive appropriate opportunities to develop at the international level.
Rathnayake’s century was central to Sri Lanka’s remarkable victory after England posted 429 for four, powered by captain Harry Brook’s record-breaking 202.
Avishka Fernando and Dasun Shanaka contributed 97 runs each, while Janith Liyanage struck an unbeaten 61 off 27 balls, including the winning six, to complete the historic chase. (Newswire)