Dhananjaya de Silva Height, Weight, Age, Body Statistics

Dhananjaya de Silva is a Sri Lankan professional cricketer who has represented his country in all 3 formats of the sport (Tests, ODIs, and T20Is), as a batting all-rounder. In the Sri Lankan domestic circuit, he has played for Badureliya Sports Club, Kandurata Maroons, Ragama Cricket Club, and Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club (2016–Present) across all 3 formats. At the franchise level, he has turned out for Jaffna Stallions (2020), Colombo Stars (2021), and Jaffna Kings (formerly known as Jaffna Stallions) (2022) in the LPL (Lanka Premier League). He was an integral member of the Jaffna Stallions squad that had won the LPL title in the inaugural edition of the tournament in December 2020. He was also a part of the Jaffna Kings squad that won the LPL title in December 2022.

Born Name

Dhananjaya Maduranga de Silva

Nick Name

DDS, Dhana, Mr. Smile

Sun Sign

Virgo

Born Place

Hambantota, Southern Province, Sri Lanka

Residence

Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka

Nationality

Education

Dhananjaya had attended the Debarawewa National School in Tissamaharama, a town in Hambantota District. He then briefly studied at Mahanama College, a Sinhala Buddhist boys’ school in Colombo, before taking a transfer to Richmond College, a primary and secondary school in Galle, Sri Lanka. He played his senior school cricket there and captained the Richmond First XI cricket team in the 2010-11 season.

Occupation

Professional Cricketer

Family

• Father – Ranjan de Silva (Politician) (d. May 2018)
• Siblings – He has a younger brother and an older brother.

Batting

Right-Handed

Bowling

Right-Arm Off Break

Role

Batting All-Rounder

Jersey Number

75 – Test Match, One Day International (ODI), T20 International (T20I), Jaffna Stallions (LPL)

Build

Athletic

Height

5 ft 8 in or 173 cm

Weight

67 kg or 147.5 lbs

Girlfriend / Spouse

Dhananjaya has dated –

1. Sanduni Nisansala (2018-Present) – Dhananjaya married his high school sweetheart Sanduni Nisansala in 2018. They have a daughter together named Aanya de Silva (b. January 2022).

Race / Ethnicity

Asian

He is of Sri Lankan descent.

Hair Color

Black

Eye Color

Dark Brown

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

• Toned physique
• Ever-changing hairstyle
• Charming smile
• Sports a trimmed beard
• Has his right arm covered in tattoos

Dhananjaya de Silva Facts

1. Dhananjaya made his test match debut in July 2016 in the first match of a 3-match bilateral home series against Australia. In the first innings of that match, he was Sri Lanka’s top-scorer with 24 runs and his first scoring shot was a sixer. This made him the first player for Sri Lanka, and the 5th overall, to get off the mark in a test match by scoring a sixer.
2. He scored his maiden test match century in the 3rd and final match of that series. He was also the top run-getter in the 3-match series, on either side, with 325 runs to his name. Sri Lanka went on to win the series by a 3-0 margin, the first time in history that they had whitewashed Australia in a test series.
3. In November 2017, he was honored with the ‘Test Batsman of the Year’ award (for the 2016–17 season) at the annual awards ceremony of Sri Lanka Cricket (the governing body for the sport in the country).
4. The following month, in the 3rd and final match of an away bilateral test series against India, Dhananjaya scored 119 runs not out off 219 balls to help Sri Lanka escape with a draw and avoid a 3-0 series whitewash. His unbeaten knock was the then-highest 4th-innings score by a visiting batsman in India.
   
5. In February 2018, during Sri Lanka’s 1st innings of the 1st match of a 2-match away bilateral test series against Bangladesh, he scored 173 runs and was involved in a massive 308-run partnership with Kusal Mendis. During this inning, Dhananjaya also became the then joint-fastest Sri Lankan batsman (23 innings) to have scored 1,000 runs in test matches.
6. His father, a politician, was killed by an unidentified gunman in front of the family home in May 2018. Dhananjaya, consequently, withdrew from the early stages of Sri Lanka’s tour of the West Indies for a 3-match test series that was held in June 2018.
7. In April 2021, during Sri Lanka’s 1st innings of the 1st match of a 2-match home bilateral test series against Bangladesh, he scored his 7th test match century (166 runs). He put up a massive 345-run partnership with Sri Lanka’s captain Dimuth Karunaratne.
8. The pair batted through the entire 4th day and this partnership set up a new record for any wicket in a test match played in the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka; either at the Asgiriya Stadium (where international matches were held between April 1983 and December 2007) or at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium (where international matches have been held since December 2010).

Featured Image by Dhananjaya de Silva / Instagram