RRMP Rathnayake of Sri Lanka scored 72 against England at Manchester in the just concluded test to provide the 25^th occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman scoring a fifty on test debut. All such occasions are tabulated below

No	Player	Runs	I	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	RS Madugalle	65	1	v England	Col-PSS	17 Feb 1982
2	A Ranatunga	54	1	v England	Col-PSS	17 Feb 1982
3	RL Dias	77	3	v England	Col-PSS	17 Feb 1982
4	DSBP Kuruppu	201*	1	v New Zealand	Col-CCC	16 Apr 1987
5	MAR Samarasekera	57	3	v England	Lord’s	25 Aug 1988
6	UC Hathurusingha	81	4	v New Zealand	Hamilton	22 Feb 1991
7	RS Kaluwitharana	132*	2	v Australia	Col-SSC	17 Aug 1992
8	CI Dunusinghe	91	3	v New Zealand	Napier	11 Mar 1995
9	DPMD Jayawardene	66	2	v India	Col-RPS	02 Aug 1997
10	TT Samaraweera	103*	2	v India	Col-SSC	29 Aug 2001
11	MN Nawaz	78*	3	v Bangladesh	Col-SSC	28 Jul 2002
12	LD Chandimal	58	1	v South Africa	Durban	26 Dec 2011
13	LD Chandimal	54	3	v South Africa	Durban	26 Dec 2011
14	FDM Karunaratne	60*	4	v New Zealand	Galle	17 Nov 2012
15	KDK Vithanage	59	3	v Bangladesh	Galle	08 Mar 2013
16	MDK Perera	95	1	v Pakistan	Sharjah	16 Jan 2014
17	N Dickwella	72	1	v South Africa	Col-SSC	24 Jul 2014
18	MDKJ Perera	55	2	v India	Col-SSC	28 Aug 2015
19	MDKJ Perera	70	4	v India	Col-SSC	28 Aug 2015
20	DAS Gunaratne	54	1	v Zimbabwe	Harare	29 Oct 2016
21	ARS Silva	74*	4	v India	Delhi	02 Dec 2017
22	PW Hasaranga	59	3	v South Africa	Centurion	26 Dec 2020
23	P Nissanka	103	3	v West Indies	North Sound	21 Mar 2021
24	PHKD Mendis	61	2	v Australia	Galle	08 Jul 2022
25	RMMP Rathnayake	72	1	v England	Manchester	21 Aug 2024

It also provides the fifth occasion of a Sri Lankan batsman scoring a fifty on test debut against. All such occasions are tabulated below

No	Player	Runs	I	Opposition	Ground	Start Date
1	RS Madugalle	65	1	v England	Col-PSS	17 Feb 1982
2	A Ranatunga	54	1	v England	Col-PSS	17 Feb 1982
3	RL Dias	77	3	v England	Col-PSS	17 Feb 1982
4	MAR Samarasekera	57	3	v England	Lord’s	25 Aug 1988
5	RMMP Rathnayake	72	1	v England	Manchester	21 Aug 2024