BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla has praised Sri Lanka’s emerging batting star Sonal Dinusha following his impressive performances in the ongoing Test series against India. The 25-year-old left-hander has made a strong impact with the bat, prompting Shukla to compare his early promise with legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar. Dinusha has certainly lived up to the praise with his performances against India.

After scoring 100 and 84 in the first Test at Galle, the Sri Lankan all-rounder produced another impressive century in the second Test in Colombo. His 103-run knock further underlined his growing potential in the longest format. Dinusha scored 103 off 162 deliveries in Sri Lanka’s first innings in Colombo. His innings proved crucial as the hosts attempted to fight back after India declared their innings at 503/9. He reached his century with a boundary against Prasidh Krishna before Saransh Jain, on his Test debut, eventually dismissed him.

The left-hander’s century included eight fours and three sixes, highlighting his ability to combine patience with aggressive strokeplay. More importantly, his latest effort helped him enter an exclusive group in Test cricket. Dinusha became only the third batter in Test history to score at least 80 runs in each of his first three Test innings against India. He joined West Indies great Everton Weekes and Pakistan legend Zaheer Abbas, with the previous such instance coming in 1978.

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His consecutive Test hundreds have also placed him alongside several iconic Sri Lankan batters who have achieved the feat against India. Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Tharanga Paranavitana and Angelo Mathews have all previously scored successive Test centuries against India.

This Sonal of Srilanka is an amazing player. Looking like Tendulkar. Can be a wonderful test player in international cricket. @OfficialSLC

— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) August 27, 2026

Dinusha’s achievement is particularly significant given that he is still in the early stages of his international career. His ability to handle India’s bowling attack and spend long periods at the crease has made him one of Sri Lanka’s biggest positives in the series. Shukla also took to X to praise Dinusha and highlighted his resemblance to Sachin Tendulkar. “This Sonal of Srilanka is an amazing player. Looking like Tendulkar. Can be a wonderful test player in international cricket.”

Former Sri Lanka batter Avishka Gunawardene has also identified Dinusha as one of the major positives from the series. Despite India’s dominance, Gunawardene believes the youngster could become an important player for Sri Lankan cricket. “You can always talk about the results, but obviously I take the positives out of it. Sri Lanka has found a brilliant player called Sonal Dinusha and the way he’s batting, I think he’s going to be a handful for Sri Lanka cricket.”

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Gunawardene also highlighted the emergence of off-spinner Keshara Nuwantha as another encouraging development. He believes Sri Lanka can take several positives from the series despite India maintaining their dominance. We just played a new off-spinner (Keshara Nuwantha) who looks good. There are quite a few positives other than the results, but needless to say India has dominated and is dominating this Test series.”