Hit-wicket dismissals are one of the rarest forms of dismissal in international cricket. But two batters have suffered the same fate in a matter of 12-13 hours. Harshal Patel was the one who disturbed the bails with his bat during the third and the final T20I against New Zealand in Kolkata on Sunday (November 21). Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva’s mode of dismissal was on similar lines on Monday morning during the first session of the opening Test match against the West Indies.
The second day’s play is currently in progress and in the first half an hour of the play itself, Dhananjaya de Silva was dismissed for no technical fault of his. After ending the opening day strongly at 273/4 thanks to Dimuth Karunaratne’s century and De Silva’s half-century, the unbeaten duo was well on the way to strengthening the position of the team.
WATCH – Harshal Patel Gets Hit-wicket Out Against Lockie Ferguson
However, the 95th over of the innings in which Shannon Gabriel was bowling brought a much-needed breakthrough for the visitors on the second morning. The fast bowler delivered a harmless back of a length delivery outside off which the batter stood on the backfoot and defended.
But Dhananjaya de Silva did it with soft hands which meant the ball trickled towards the stumps. He made an attempt to change the direction of the ball with his bat but couldn’t do it in the first attempt. He panicked and tried to do it again with the other side of the bat he ended up disturbing the bails on the leg-stump.
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Dhananjaya de Silva was livid with himself and saved his face with the bat. He was batting so beautifully in the middle and looked set for a big score only to end his promising knock in one of the most bizarre ways possible.
Here’s the video:
— Simran (@CowCorner9) November 22, 2021
Nevertheless, the middle-order batter played a brilliant knock of 61 runs off 95 deliveries with five fours to his name and most importantly, stitched a crucial partnership of 111 runs for the fourth wicket with his skipper Karunaratne. It was Dhananjaya’s counter-attacking innings that had given the momentum after West Indies threatened to run away with quick wickets in the third session of the opening day.
