BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla praised Sri Lanka batter Sonal Dinusha on Thursday after the left-hander scored fourth consecutive half-century of the series in the ongoing second Test against India at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.The 25-year-old has been Sri Lanka’s top batter in the two-match series, scoring 50 or more runs in each of his four innings.Shukla took to X after watching Dinusha’s batting and compared him to Sachin Tendulkar. “This Sonal of Srilanka is an amazing player. Looking like Tendulkar. Can be a wonderful test player in international cricket,” Shukla posted on X.Dinusha began the series with scores of 100 and 84 in the first Test in Galle, although Sri Lanka lost that match by 165 runs. He continued his form in Colombo by scoring 103 in the first innings.On Day 5 of the second Test, Dinusha was unbeaten on 71 in Sri Lanka’s second innings at the time of writing the story.His latest fifty also earned him a place in the record books.Dinusha became the first Asian batter and only the fifth player overall to score at least 50 runs in each of his first four Test innings against India.The previous player to achieve the feat was England’s Ken Barrington in 1959. Apart from Dinusha and Barrington, former England captain Douglas Jardine and West Indies batters Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott also scored 50 or more runs in each of their first four Test innings against India.Jardine and Weekes went one step further, scoring 50-plus in each of their first five innings against India. Weekes made four consecutive centuries before scoring 90 in his fifth innings.Dinusha also became only the third Sri Lankan batter to score 50 or more in all four innings of a two-Test series.Sri Lankan batters to score 50-plus in all four innings of a two-Test series:
- Kumar Sangakkara vs Bangladesh (Home, 2013)
- Kumar Sangakkara vs England (Away, 2014)
- Dimuth Karunaratne vs South Africa (Home, 2018)
- Sonal Dinusha vs India (Home, 2026)
