The final match of Lanka Premier League 2024 was played between Galle Marvels and Jaffna Kings in Colombo. In this match held on Sunday 21st July, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who has played for Punjab Kings in IPL, made a blast. Jaffna Kings won the toss and invited Galle Marvels to bat first. Galle did not have a good start. Within 7 overs, the team lost 3 wickets and could score only 24 runs. After this Bhanuka Rajapaksa came to bat. He put the struggling Galle team in a strong position with his stormy innings.

Scored 82 runs in 34 balls

Bhanuka Rajapaksa along with New Zealand's Tim Seifert took the innings forward rapidly. Seifert played the role of anchor from one end, while Rajapaksa kept scoring boundaries from the other end. He scored 82 runs in just 34 balls at a strike rate of 241. He hit 8 fours and 6 sixes in this innings. Seifert supported him fully and he also scored 47 runs in 37 balls. With the help of Bhanuka's innings, Galle scored a huge score of 184 runs. At one time this team was scoring runs at an average of 4.

He has also done a blast for Punjab Kings

Bhanuka Rajapaksa has also made a blast in the IPL before this. He has participated in two seasons of IPL in 2022 and 2023. During this, he played for the Punjab Kings team. The 2023 season was not special for him. He got a chance in only 4 matches, in which he scored 71 runs at a strike rate of 114. However, in the 2022 season, he scored 206 runs in 9 matches. During this, his strike rate (159) was also excellent. This season, he played a match-winning innings of 43 runs in 22 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore. With the help of his innings, Punjab chased the huge target of 206 runs.

Out for one and a half year due to fitness

Bhanuka Rajapaksa has been in controversies regarding his fitness. In 2021, he was dropped from the team on this basis. Then he criticized the selectors a lot. He believed that team selection should be based on performance, not fitness. He also criticized the policies of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board. Not only this, he has been out of the team for the last one and a half years.