An opening batsman of rare power, Dilshan Munaweera earned a call-up to the national side for the 2012 World Twenty20 after impressing at the inaugural SLPL, in which he was the top scorer. Brutal on anything short and almost as severe when bowlers overpitch, Munaweera is a firm convert of the Sanath Jayasuriya school of opening - hit it hard, long and over the infield. His 44 from 23 balls to clinch the SLPL title for the Uva Next franchise included five sixes and two fours.

A product of Nalanda College and the son of a former first-class cricketer, Munaweera began playing cricket at age 12 and rose through the age grades to represent Sri Lanka at U-19 level, before moving on to U-23 cricket at Bloomfield Cricket Club. He had been in and out of the Sri Lanka A team prior to national selection, but had marked himself out as a future talent nonetheless, first as a teenager when he struck six consecutive sixes in the Ananda-Nalanda school cricket match, and later by winning a single-wicket tournament organised by SLC.

With a poor conversion rate in his first-class career to date, Munaweera is yet to marry an appetite for boundaries with the temperament that might make him a candidate for national selection in the longer forms as well. But at 21, Sri Lanka have seen enough raw talent to invest in Munaweera, beginning with a stint in the Twenty20 outfit.
Andrew Fernando