Sri Lanka’s T20I captain, Dasun Shanaka, is the new entrant in the list of players who have ditched PSL when offered an IPL contract.
The Replacement
Dasun Shanaka comes in as a replacement for Sam Curran, who was ruled out of IPL 2026 due to an injury. Shanaka is a like-for-like replacement for Sam Curran, being a fast bowling all-rounder who is more than capable of clearing the boundary while batting in the middle order, something which Curran would have been equipped to do had he played for the inaugural champions in the upcoming season.
The Form
If we talk about the form of Dasun Shanaka, the hard-hitting batter and seam bowler who can chip in with an over or two if needed, he led Sri Lanka in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, and although the home team failed to make it beyond the Super Eight stage of the 20-team competition, Shanaka impressed everyone with his batting.
The Performance
Shanka almost pulled off an unlikely chase in the team’s last match against Pakistan when the former champions lost early wickets and were in all sorts of trouble failing only five runs short of what could have been a memorable win for Sri Lanka.
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The Choice
Dasun Shanaka’s choice as a replacement for Sam Curran was an inevitable one, with the head coach of Rajasthan Royals, Kumar Sangakkara, being a Sri Lankan, along with Vikram Rathod, who was a part of Sri Lanka’s coaching staff during the T20 World Cup.
The Switch
Shanaka, who went unsold during the 2026 IPL auction in December last year, was signed by Lahore Qalandars in the first-ever PSL auction but has now made the move to play for the Rajasthan Royals, thereby adding his name to the list of players who have made the last decision to play in the IPL after being signed by a team in the PSL.
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