Imesha Dulani’s Personal Details:
Name: Imesha Dulani Witharana
Date of Birth: 20th January 2002
Batting Style: Right-Hand Bat
Bowling Style: NA
Role: Batter
Imesha Dulani arrives at her maiden T20 World Cup at 24 as one of Sri Lanka’s most promising middle-order batters, fresh from a confidence-boosting tour of Bangladesh, where she finished as her side’s third-highest run-scorer in the T20I series. A product of Devapathiraja College, Rathgama, a nursery of Sri Lankan women’s cricket.
Dulani has transitioned rapidly from school and academy cricket into the international frame since her T20I debut against New Zealand on 12 July 2023. In nine T20I innings, she has amassed 249 runs at an average of 31.12 and a strike rate of 113.18, including two half-centuries; her recent form, temperament and ability to anchor an innings make her a key piece in Sri Lanka’s bid to finally move beyond the World Cup group stage.
Technically compact and temperamentally composed, Dulani has shown an aptitude for pacing the innings from number three, a role she performed admirably in Sylhet on 28 April 2026. Coming in early, she crafted a measured 55 off 40 balls, striking seven boundaries to help Sri Lanka post 161/4 and set up a 25-run victory. That knock encapsulated her strengths: clean timing, selective aggression and the capacity to rotate strike under pressure.
Across the Bangladesh white-ball tour (20 April–2 May 2026), she scored 101 T20I runs at a strike rate of 134.66 and an average of 33.66, numbers that earned her a nomination for the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for April 2026.
Dulani brings balance to Sri Lanka’s batting unit. With skipper Chamari Athapaththu and other senior players providing power, Dulani offers the stabilising presence that allows the innings to bridge powerplay and death-overs intent. Her strike-rate shows her ability to accelerate when required, but also absorb phases, a valuable trait in T20 tournaments played on varied surfaces such as those in England and Wales. Given Sri Lanka’s historical challenge of not yet making a World Cup semi-final despite appearing in every edition, players like Dulani represent the new generation tasked with delivering consistency in high-pressure matches.
The 12-team expansion of the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup and Sri Lanka’s placement in Group 2 alongside hosts England, New Zealand, Ireland, West Indies and Scotland presents both stern tests and opportunities. Dulani is likely to be a starter for Sri Lanka in the high-profile tournament opener against England, led by Nat Sciver-Brunt at Edgbaston on 12 June, a baptism by fire against a world-class bowling attack led by Lauren Bell. How Dulani negotiates England’s early movement and the seaming English conditions will shape Sri Lanka’s top-order strategy for the group stage.
At 24, Dulani’s international résumé is compact but upward-trending: 12 matches, two fifties and a growing record of clutch contributions. Her grounding at Devapathiraja College and steady progression through Sri Lanka’s academies hint at a player with both technique and cricketing intelligence.
If she sustains the form that earned her plaudits in Bangladesh, Imesha Dulani could be one of Sri Lanka’s most important discoveries in this World Cup, not just as a scorer of runs, but as a batter capable of altering the team’s tournament trajectory.
Loves all things female cricket