Bhanuka Rajapaksha

Bhanuka Rajapaksha  

          

• Full name                     -          Pramod Bhanuka Bandara Rajapaksa
• Born                             -          October 24, 1991, Colombo
• Current age                 -          28 years                                  

• Playing role                 -         

  Top-order batsman

• Batting style                -          

  Left-hand bat

• Bowling style              -         

  Right-arm medium

• Education                    -          

  Royal College, Colombo

• Major teams                 -         

  Sri Lanka Under-19s, Sri Lanka Colts XI, Sri Lanka Board XI, Prime                                              Bank  Cricket Club, Sinhalese Sports Club, Royal College, 

biography

Bhanuka Rajapaksa is a professional sri Lankan cricketer,who plays Twenty20 Internationals for Sri Lanka. He is a left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm medium-fast. he also the relative of the former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Having sporting interests in squash and swimming, the southpaw chose to play cricket over any other sport. 

Early career

Rajapaksa began his cricket career as a student of Royal collage Colombo. Rajapaksa was selected for the 2010 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand where he successfully showcased his skills by amassing 253 runs and he finished as the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka in the tournament. He followed it up with the 'Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year' award and the 'Young emerging U-19 Player' in the following year. Rajapaksa was the first Sri Lankan U19 cricketer to score 150 in a U19 ODI innings. He was also the first Sri Lankan U19 player to amass 1000 Youth ODI runs.

Domestic career

Rajapaksa made his first-class debut for the Sinhalese Sports Club in 2011 Sri Lankan domestic cricket and has also played for Barisal Blazers in Bangladesh's NCL T20 Bangladesh. Bhanuka has been playing domestic cricket for years, he failed to grab the attention of the national selectors until 2019. the selectors named him in Sri Lanka's T20 squad for the Pakistan tour in September 2019 after most of the prime players opted out of the series,where he impressed one and all with his dynamic strokeplay.

International career 

In September 2019, he was named in Sri Lanka's Twenty20 International squad for the series against Pakistan in Pakistan. He made his T20I debut for Sri Lanka against Pakistan on 5 October 2019,  impressing everyone with his big-hitting prowess - including a Man-of-the-Match innings of 77 off 48 balls in the second T20I. Bhanuka is expected to be a key player as his country rebuilds towards the next World Cup.