Sri Lankan cricketer Dhanuka Pathirana smashed 277 in T20 cricket

If you think Chris Gayle was insane yesterday in his 175*off 66 balls, then what will you make of the Sri Lankan first-class player, Dhanuka Pathirana, who scored a remarkable 277 off just 72 balls in a Twenty20 match in Lancashire’s Saddleworth League? This knock helped his team Austerlands amass a total of 366 for 2 which gave them an easy win over Droylsden. Pathirana, during his knock, smashed 29 sixes and 18 fours in his unbelievable onslaught on the Droylsden bowlers.

Pathirana, who had to make use of another player’s bat as he had left his at home, said: “Everything seemed to hit the middle; I was seeing it like a football. It was like a dream … I think I did some serious damage to some of the vehicles in the car park.”

Austerlands’ coach Andy Young was quoted on 5^th September, 2007, in the Manchester Evening News, as saying: “It was unbelievable. Dhanuka normally bats at No. 3 but we needed to up our run rate to reach the semi-finals, so we asked him to open and said to him: ‘Just go for it’. And he certainly did.

“It was scary to watch and it wasn’t on one of the smaller grounds in our league. He is one of those guys who we always knew was capable of a massive innings, but this was incredible.”