Dunith, Harshitha shortlisted for ICC Player-of-the-Month

Sri Lanka’s all-round prodigy Dunith Wellalage and promising Harshitha Samarawickrama have been shortlisted for the ICC Men’s and Women’s Player-of-the-Month Award for August respectively.

Wellalage, perhaps had the most significant outing of his nascent international career against India last month.

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup runner-ups had already secured a 3-0 T20I series win against the Islanders and with the return of top stars like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India were easily the favourites to win the ODI series.

Wellalage with his 108 runs and seven scalps helped Sri Lanka overcome the India challenge, contributing at crucial stages of each game. He scored a career-best 67 not out and followed it up with wickets of Rohit and Shubman Gill in the first ODI that ended in a thrilling tie.

He made another crucial contribution with a fighting 39 in the second ODI that helped Sri Lanka to a winning total.

He didn’t click with the bat in the third game, but went on to achieve the career-best figures of five for 27, derailing the India innings before it could take off, getting the important wickets of Kohli, Rohit and Shreyas Iyer on the way to his five-for.

Wellalage will be in contention for the award along with rising West Indies pace sensation Jayden Seales and experienced South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who will be in contention for his second ICC Men’s Player-of-the-Month Award after a brilliant performance in the two-Test series against the West Indies.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s next superstar Harshitha has been named for the ICC Women’s Player-of-the-Month Award along with two of the most consistent performers from Ireland Orla Prendergast and Gaby Lewis.

Harshitha continued her rise to stardom with some monster scores with the bat in August as the left-hander dominated against Ireland in both the ODI and T20I series.

Fresh from an unbeaten 69 against India at the end of July, Harshitha improved her output upon arriving in Dublin as she registered scores of 86 not out and 65 from the two T20I matches to finish the two-match series as the leading run-scorer for both sides.

If that wasn't enough, Harshitha then produced some even better numbers in the three-match ODI series against the Irish as she poured in scores of 19, 105 and 48 not out to again finish as the leading run-scorer in that series. (ICC)