Santhush Gunatilake

🇱🇰 | Professional cricketer | Part time Golfer | Cricket Commentator | Loves dogs, cats, banter and a bit of sarcasm

[Harsha Bhogle @bhogleharsha]

We use the expression 'end of an era' too loosely sometimes. But #StephenFleming moving on from @ChennaiIPL is precisely that. It was a beautiful partnership. Dhoni, Fleming and CSK. Top coach. Top man. The IPL and CSK have much to thank him for.

[fan @NoodleHairCR7]

Respect to Mbappe and Haaland for scoring 7 goals without facing teams like Algeria, Jordan, Austria lmao

Both are doing it through the toughest path in World Cup.

[Santhush Gunatilake @stephaangun]

Grateful and proud for moments like these. 🎙️

A big thankyou to Iresh Galaboda, Think-Cube team, @talenttvsports and @OfficialSLC for the opportunity and belief in me. 🙏

A production by @sporty.lk1

#TalentTVATeamTriNationOneDaySeries2026

[Santhush Gunatilake @stephaangun]

Absolute Carnage at the Dambulla cricket stadium. Boss Baby Sooryavanshi has announced himself with a record breaking 11-ball 50 @BCCI @OfficialSLC
#VaibhavSooryavanshi
#SriLankaAvsIndiaA

[Shanu @Shanu_3010]

🚨Harbhajan Crowns Dhoni the Greatest Captain Ever: “He Knew Every Move in Advance”😱

Harbhajan Singh said: 🗣️

“You must have heard of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Mahendra Singh Dhoni doesn't care what the computer says; he just puts on his pads and gloves and walks away. As he walks, he says, 'Bajju Bhai from here, Deepak from there.'

Dhoni knows his next bowler and when to play which card. He is perhaps the best captain to ever lead a team. Only one person has run such a large franchise. And he ran it so successfully that he didn't need a computer. He even made the computer fail.”

[U' @toxifyxe]

That day, Dhoni mogged Pollard and humbled his ego in just a few seconds.😂🔥 https://t.co/M20xrW0Z38

[Santhush Gunatilake @stephaangun]

@AadhilSiddhique His strike rate is pretty good to be honest considering the fact that he had to play most of his matches on slow turning dust bowls at kettarama. So I reckon his strike rate is good enough and also SL have found a consistent finisher in ODIs.

[Ashwin 🇮🇳 @ashwinravi99]

I know a lot of fans would be gutted, but the way CSK have turned this around with a young squad is commendable.

The change of approach hasn’t given a play off birth but “FLEMING AND RUTU” have flicked the switch on.

Patience and perseverance with these boys and this could be a lethal team.🤝

[‘ @Ashwin_tweetz]

Sex is great but have you ever scrolled through twitter after a CSK win

[Abhishek AB @ABsay_ek]

Eshan Malinga comes from Ratnapura, where people dig for gems deep in the earth & somehow that feels appropriate. He grew up in a province where cricket infrastructure is something you read about in magazines, not something you actually touch & still he made the ball move at 141 kph before he was old enough to vote.

The Ranmini Battle of 2019 was his first explosion. 11 wickets in the match & a nickname that stuck: the Opanayake Express.
But velocity has a price. That same year, pushing through a national speed trial, he wrecked his back. Kind of injury that usually ends stories early. He disappeared into rehabilitation, swimming pools, invisible hours that nobody applauds.

He emerged in 2022 with debuts across all three formats for Ragama & by early 2025 was in New Zealand wearing Sri Lanka colours. Sunrisers Hyderabad paid 4 times his base price at the IPL auction.

2025 season brought 13 wickets in 7 games. Then in 2026, something shifted. With Mohammed Shami gone & Pat Cummins injured, Malinga became the unexpected leader of a young bowling unit. He has taken 12 wickets so far, but more crucially, he has taken them when it matters.
Against Delhi, he claimed 4 for 32. Against Chennai, 3 for 29 in a tight chase. Against Rajasthan, 2 for 31 & against KKR, 2 for 14.

SRH sit third on the points table right now despite losing every single toss, despite bowling second in every match, despite having no senior bowler to lean on. Malinga is the reason that young attack has held together.

The shoulder injury in early 2026 ruled him out of the T20 World Cup, cruel timing for an express bowler whose body keeps asking questions. But he has already shown he knows how to rebuild.
From Ratnapura to leading an IPL attack is not a journey you complete by accident. It requires the same patience his neighbors use when digging for sapphires, knowing the value is there if you simply refuse to stop looking.

[Troll cricket unlimitedd @TUnlimitedd]

Not many people know this fact about Cheteshwar Pujara.🚨

CSK bought Cheteshwar Pujara for 50 lakh in the IPL auctions as a mark of respect to the player for his performances in the BGT series in 20/21.
The hallroom was met with a round of applause when he was bought by CSK cause no one in their wildest dreams expected Pujara of all people to be picked as he was mostly branded as a 'test specialist and not played the IPL for a really long time. '
That particular season CSK were already assured of the top 2 spot with three games to go.
MS Dhoni the captain at the time had personally spoken to Pujara and assured him of he playing the last couple of games as an opener.

Cheteshwar Pujara being the humble man that he is politely declined the request and said to MSD " I would love to play but I'm not the reason you are in the playoffs and there is no point picking me in the team. Getting picked in the IPL auctions in itself was a real blessing for me and I'm forever grateful to you and the CSK management for that, I will support the boys and I'm sure they will go on to lift the trophy."
Pujara guided the youngsters in that season and shared his words of wisdom.
CSK went on to lift the trophy that season and Cheteshwar Pujara became an IPL trophy winner. 🏆

That is why many cricketers in the auctions always hope and pray they get picked in CSK as it is one family. Everyone is treated the same and no one is bigger than the other.

[Santhush Gunatilake @stephaangun]

@GooglySniper @PrerakMankad46

[Aarav MSdian ™️ @Itz_aarav_07]

Legacy doesn’t disappear overnight

[Santhush Gunatilake @stephaangun]

@TheStatsKid1523 Correct! Forgot he made his debut in the last series.

[K 🚩 @K__P0_7]

"Instagram Editor literally went to God mode" 🗿

[Santhush Gunatilake @stephaangun]

@AadhilSiddhique Role clarity. Simple as that.