The 23-year-old Sri Lankan opener, Nuwanidu Fernando played a terrific knock on his ODI debut, but then got run out in an unfortunate manner. He was on the fringes of the side for some time and finally made his international debut in the second ODI of the three-match series against India at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Sri Lanka’s captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat first in the match. They made two changes to the playing XI as Nuwanidu Fernando replaced injured Pathum Nissanka and Lahiru Kumara replaced injured seamer Dilshan Madushanka. Nuwanidu Fernando opened the innings with Avishka Fernando and he showcased a batting masterclass on his debut. Nuwanidu was fluent with the bat against the strong Indian bowling attack.

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The 23-year-old smashed a half-century on his ODI debut to become just the 6th Sri Lankan batter to achieve the feat after Ashan Priyanjan, Chamara Silva, Sunil Wettimuny, Kusal Mendis, and Ashen Bandara. Nuwanidu’s innings ended in the most unfortunate way possible as he got run out on the first ball of the 22nd over, which was bowled by left-arm spinner Axar Patel.

The spinner bowled a length ball on the off-stump and the Sri Lanka batter walked down the track and smashed the ball towards mid-wicket and attempted for a run. The ball fell just short of the diving Shubman Gill, but he managed to collect the ball and fire a good throw towards the wicket-keeper KL Rahul, who dislodged the bails, with the batter far away from the crease.

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Notably, both Nuwanidu and Charith Asalanka were ball-watching and Nuwanidu Fernando was already three-fourths of the way down when Asalanka sent him back. Overall, Nuwanidu Fernando scored an impressive 50 runs off 63 balls, with 6 fours, on his debut.

Here is the video of the dismissal of Nuwanidu Fernando: