The first thing that strikes you about Sonal Dinusha's batting is the quality of his sweeping. At five-foot-not-very-many, and as a spin-bowling-allrounder who tends to bat lower in the order, he fits the general profile for a good sweeper. But at Galle, against an excellent India spin attack, variations of this shot were the foundation of a match aggregate of 184.
Ravindra Jadeja is often one of the toughest spinners in the world to sweep, owing to the relatively rapid pace a which he gets significant turn. Manav Suthar put the most work on the ball of all spinners on show, the ball biting the surface and leaping at batters at times. Dinusha hit 67 off 91 off Jadeja, and was dismissed by him once (after he'd completed his first-innings century). Off Suthar, he struck 47 off 81, with one dismissal.
Against these two bowlers, he hit perhaps the two most authoritative shots that any Sri Lanka batter hit during the Test - a couple of sweetly-tonked slog sweeps on the third afternoon, each of which sailed way over the boundary. Kuldeep Yadav, whose stock ball turns away from Dinusha, conceded 52 off 62 balls to the batter, without taking a wicket. He got slog-swept over the boundary too, in the second innings.
"I thought Sonal handled the pressure of international cricket in his first four Test matches exceptionally well." Gary Kirsten, SL head coach
The sixes were the high notes, but the driving rhythm of Dinusha's innings were formed by dinks through midwicket, laps through short fine, a few late cuts, the occasional reverse sweep. As he had also suggested during his 92 against West Indies in June, his batting is characterised by restraint, control, and just enough creativity to weaken the shackles India attempted to put on him, especially in the first innings. In that knock, only 28% of his runs came from boundaries, and yet Dinusha skipped along at a strike rate of 60.
Where many batters arrive at the top level and strain to impress, Dinusha has trusted his own method and processes, right down to what appears to be a ritual of sitting on the edge of the field, apart from his teammates, as he awaits his turn to bat. The century celebration was muted by modern standards. In the interviews and press conferences, Dinusha was reserved and sensible. Her averages 61.66 after seven Test innings, spread over about 15 months. But you get the sense that he is hungry to show he has more of his game to reveal still - that he has only played as he has played so far because he had tailored his innings to the match situations. In the company of the tail on the fifth afternoon, Dinusha unveiled the more attacking modes to his batting, flitting down the track to whip spinners over midwicket, even dusting off a lofted drive.
Even his bowling and fielding have a sense of discipline and urgency woven into them, Dinusha making several excellent stops at the boundary, and even running down a high catch off Rishabh Pant on day two. Coach Gary Kirsten has been impressed.
"This is his fourth test match and to see him play the way he's played is very exciting for Sri Lankan cricket," he said of Dinusha. "His love for Test cricket and playing that way - playing that style - is particularly pleasing to me to watch, and we certainly would encourage all our players to have that Test match mindset and attitude."
Dinusha's prowess appears to depend more on his method than talent for now, which may assist him in continuing to bridge what even Kirsten says is a substantial gap between domestic and first-class cricket. Several young batters have taken Test cricket by the collar in their first several Tests, and then fallen away somewhat (Pathum Nissanka is the only Sri Lanka batter of this decade to sustain his excellence beyond the first three years of his exposure). Despite Kamindu Mendis' rocket-fueled 2024, he remains a work in progress even in this format for example. It is when oppositions have gathered sufficient data to tailor sophisticated plans that inexperienced Sri Lanka batters appear to falter. Even Sri Lanka's most-senior batter in Galle - Dinesh Chandimal - had had to battle his way through a difficult consolidation period. Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne - they had all been through it in the early stages of their careers.
"There's a big step-up between first-class and international and that's down to pressure, basically," Kirsten said. "And I thought Sonal handled the pressure of international cricket in his first four Test matches exceptionally well."
With seven Tests coming up in the next 10 months, Dinusha is almost certain to have a decent stretch in the team.
"I think importantly is we've got to back players," Kirsten said. "It's easy when guys have one or two bad performances that you just move them on. And that would be my focus is to back the players because if they've got the talent and they've shown that they've had success at first-class level, how long do you give them an opportunity to do well at international level?"
Given the difficult several years Sri Lankan batting has had, there is the temptation to make plenty of the start that Dinusha has made in internationals. But you suspect he himself wouldn't be into that. Though measured, he also exudes a quiet confidence. And the sense that he is determined to show that as good as the start has been, this is not all he's got.