Dasun Shanaka

Profile details

FULL NAME

Dasun Shanaka

TEAMS

Dubai Capitals

A captain who finishes games

Dasun Shanaka was born on 9 September 1991 and captained Sri Lanka to the Asia Cup title in 2022, the country's first in eight years, leading a side few expected to win it. As a player he is a middle-order power hitter and a useful medium-fast bowler, and his best T20 innings have a pattern: he arrives late, takes a few balls to settle, and then hits the bowling out of the ground. His unbeaten 54 off 25 balls against Australia in 2022, when Sri Lanka chased 164 with an over to spare, is the template.

• Role: All-rounder
• Team: Dubai Capitals
• Batting: Right-handed
• Bowling: Right-arm medium-fast
• Born: 9 September 1991

He has played franchise cricket across the world, including the IPL, and he has been part of Dubai Capitals before — the right-to-match signing is a return, not a new relationship. Sri Lanka's white-ball teams have leaned on him for years because he does two jobs at once: he bowls the overs nobody else wants, and he bats in the positions nobody else wants.

The right-to-match call

Dubai Capitals used their right-to-match card on Shanaka at the 1 October 2026 auction, matching the $100,000 bid to keep him. That tells you how the champions value him: not as a star, but as a piece of the side that is hard to replace. Finishers who can also bowl four overs are rare, and in a six-team league where every squad is thin in the middle, keeping one you already trust is worth the card.

His Season 5 job is the same as last season's: bat at five or six, bowl two or three overs of medium pace when the pitch offers something, and be the calm head in a chase. With Stoinis and Powell in the same middle order, the Capitals have three finishers; Shanaka is the one with the captain's experience, and the one du Plessis will turn to when a game needs managing rather than hitting.

Three finishers, one middle order

The Capitals' middle order is the deepest in the league on paper: Shanaka, Stoinis and Powell can each win a match from a losing position, and Karim Janat adds a fourth all-round option. That changes how the top order plays — Salt and du Plessis can attack the powerplay knowing that a collapse does not end the innings, because the players behind them hit just as hard.

What’s next

The champions open at home, and Shanaka's first job is likely to come late in the game: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders on Sunday 22 November, in the evening in Dubai.

• Match 3 — vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders: Sunday 22 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 6 — vs Desert Vipers: Wednesday 25 November 2026, evening session, Dubai.
• Match 8 — vs Sharjah Warriorz: Friday 27 November 2026, evening session, Sharjah.

Qualifier 1 is on Tuesday 16 December, the Eliminator on Wednesday 17 December, Qualifier 2 on Friday 18 December in Sharjah, and the final on Sunday 20 December in Dubai.

The full list of every ILT20 fixture is on the ILT20 Schedule page. Follow every result as it happens on SialTV, with the points table updated after every match day.