Struggling with bat, Shanaka leads Sri Lanka to victory with ball

When your last seven scores are 5, 14*, 1, 5, 0, 5 and 1, these things tend to happen. Like a man rifling frantically through all his pockets for a misplaced key, Dasun Shanaka is reaching for deliveries he doesn't usually reach for, lunging when he doesn't usually lunge, and mis-hitting almost every shot in an anxious 32-ball 24 that sets Sri Lanka on track for another fizzling finish.

It has been almost nine months since Shanaka struck 108 not out off 88 against India in Guwahati. Since then, he has played 14 ODI innings, averaged 10.69, and struck at a truly abysmal 73.15.

Such has been the extent of his batting misery, and so desperate a figure does he cut with bat in hand, you wonder if he thinks he will ever find his old self again. Whether he still believes the thing big-hitting batters such as himself are supposed to believe: that the shot that thumps him back into rhythm - like an old TV screen that comes right when you hit it hard enough - is just around the corner.

But this is not your run-of-the-mill plunge into despair. There are other statistics. Under Shanaka's leadership, Sri Lanka have now won 13 consecutive ODIs, something only the greatest ODI team of all time has ever done before. They've bowled out their opposition in all 13 of those matches, despite their best fast bowler - Dushmantha Chameera - having been injured for most of that run. Wanindu Hasaranga has played no part in their three Asia Cup victories so far. Promising left-armer Dilshan Madushanka has not been available in this tournament either.

There are huge caveats to these numbers, of course. Of the teams playing in this year's World Cup, Sri Lanka have defeated only Afghanistan (three times), Bangladesh (twice), and Netherlands (twice) during this stretch. None of these sides are what you would call long-standing cricketing powers. But still, Sri Lanka have won 22 matches and lost only 13 under Shanaka. In ODIs since 2016 in which he was not captain, Sri Lanka won just 28 and lost 63.

A quick vibe check, as we can't be all about numbers: it doesn't feel as depressing to be a follower of Sri Lankan cricket since Shanaka took over the white-ball teams. Even if he himself barely looks like he can hold a bat right now.

What Shanaka can do, however, is contribute with the ball. It is, by a distance, his second skill. Maybe even his third, given his fielding in the circle is routinely outstanding. On Saturday, having seen Bangladesh's batters go after Maheesh Theekshana early, and sensing that perhaps this was a plan they had hatched, Shanaka brought himself on to bowl the fourth over and, however gentle his pace, began making the ball curve late enough through the air to trouble batters.

He raised a mild lbw appeal in his first over, conceded just five runs across his next three overs, and eventually created the pressure that yielded two wickets. Mehidy Hasan Miraz pulled a shortish ball straight to midwicket. Mohammad Naim top-edged what in Shanaka's world is a bouncer, which eventually settled in the gloves of the wicketkeeper. By the end of his first spell, Shanaka had given away 15 from six overs. It was, in effect, a tone-setting effort.

Bangladesh never truly recovered from these six overs, delivered by a captain who does not usually operate in the early stages of an innings but, perhaps because so much else was going wrong for him, felt he needed to find responsibilities elsewhere.

Shanaka is no one's idea of a world-class bowler. Just as Sri Lanka is no one's idea of a world-class ODI team, at present. But together, for now, they are making it work. Kind of. In their previous win, against Afghanistan, they had kind of tumbled into like a drunk crashing into a soft haystack.

And his problems will persist beyond this match. There are lots of things a captain can't really do when they're in this much of a personal chasm. They can't comfortably make the kinds of tough selection calls on match day that are sometimes required. They can't twist arms and draft players that are not on the selectors' radar. They can't talk tough within the team, and certainly not in public. They can't take strong stands, which is a thing you often need to do when your board is Sri Lanka Cricket.

You suspect Shanaka is not a natural arm-twister/tough talker/stand-taker anyway. But in men's elite sport, which even in 2023 rewards the more brusque expressions of masculinity, it would be nice to have the option of being a generalissimo, even just occasionally.

That ODIs have been Sri Lanka's worst format since their batting Valar (TM Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardana etc) retired is pretty well understood. But right now, it feels like a side that is spinning like a top - beautiful in its current motion, but susceptible to collapsing with the lightest gust, a glancing touch of a finger.

Shanaka is at least partly responsible for this revival. On Saturday, his batting failed again. But he took 3 for 28 from nine overs, and led Sri Lanka to another victory.