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Sri Lanka's Dunith Wellalage was crowned ICC Men's Player of the Month for August following his sensational display against India.
The 21-year-old brushed off competition from South Africa's Keshav Maharaj and West Indies' Jayden Seales to clinch the award. Wellalage's all-round display helped Sri Lanka prevail over India for the first time in a bilateral ODI series since 1997. Before heading to the ODI series, India had already secured a 3-0 T20I series sweep against Sri Lanka. With the return of stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India were the on-paper favourites to win the ODI series. However, Wellalage, with 108 runs and seven wickets in the three ODIs, helped Sri Lanka overcome the India challenge in the series, contributing at crucial stages of each game. He scored a career-best 67* and followed it up by claiming the wickets of Rohit and Shubman Gill in the first ODI that ended in a thrilling tie in the absence of Super Over. In the second ODI, he made another crucial contribution with a fighting 39 towards the end that helped Sri Lanka to a competitive score of 240/9. He didn't click with the bat in the third game but achieved his career-best figures of 5/27. He singlehandedly derailed India's batting line-up even before it could take off. He removed Kohli, Rohit, and Shreyas Iyer en route to his five-wicket haul. "This recognition gives me further strength to continue doing the good work I do as a player and contribute to my team to reach excellence in the field," Wellalage said after winning the award, as quoted from the ICC. "I wish to thank my teammates, parents, friends, and relatives, as I am sure my achievement will provide them great satisfaction, as they have been supporting me all throughout. Recognition such as this, coming from the International Cricket Council, is great news for young players like us and will certainly encourage young players in the game," he concluded. (ANI)
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