Punjab Kings batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa (50) hit his maiden IPL 50 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and it was his 86-run second wicket stand with skipper Shikhar Dhawan (40) that set the tone for the home team. Punjab won the match by seven runs as per the DLS method.

Rajapaksa walked in and wasted no time to take the attack on to Sunil Narine in the fifth over of the innings. Narine started with two dots but then the moment he tossed it up Rajapaksa went inside out for two fours and ended the over with a straight six. “My part of the scoring shots was just instincts. Wherever the ball was pitched we were trying to manipulate the bowlers and it worked for us. It’s not that we targeted the short boundaries. We just manipulated the bowlers,” he told the reporters after the match. 

The relative of Sri Lanka's former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapasaka was a proficient swimmer in his childhood. But he had to quit water sports due to a life-threatening illness. He was plagued by meningitis, a disease that severely affects the brain and following doctors' advice, he had to stop diving into the water. Then he took up cricket while studying at Royal College Colombo. Initially, he was a reliable medium-pace bowler and batter. In the very next year, Bhanupasaka earned 'The Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year' and 'Young Emerging U-19 Player awards.

Then also the 32-year-old cricketer got involved in another controversy. After being excluded from the national on the fitness issues against West Indies and England tours in 2021, Bhanupasaka expressed dissatisfaction and commented in a media interview that on-field performances should take precedence over player fitness levels and attacked the Sri Lankan selectors and cricket officials for being inconsistent with their regulations. 

But the batsman  was attacked by Mickey Arthur, the head coach of Sri Lanka cricket, who referred to him as a ‘comfort-zone cricketer’ on the field and said that he had not passed the skin-fold tests necessary to meet the fitness standards needed to compete in international cricket tournaments. Arthur also divulged Bhanupasaka disobeyed Arthur's instruction of maintaining a 'special diet' and continued taking his favorite chocolates. As a result, the batsman was also handed a one-year suspension from all forms of cricket by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board and also fined a penalty of 5000 US Dollars for the breach of contract and for not taking permission from the board to give media interviews. Finally, Bhanupasaka returned to mainstream cricket at the end of 2021 and he was signed by Punjab Kings for the IPL in 2022.

Commenting on the ups and downs in his career Bhanupasaka once said, "I have been through to everything for long nine to 10 years. It took me almost 10 years to get into the side. Mentally I became very low, and frustrated. Even once, I felt I should leave playing cricket. Still, I have been able to overcome all odds thanks to continious inspiration and encouragement from my wife, and other family members."