Rex Clementine in Cape Town
Nineteen-year-old quick Lahiru Kumara on Tuesday became only the second Sri Lankan teenager to pick up a five wicket haul in a Test match. The first to do so was Ravindra Pushakumara (Pushpa).
From hockey to fast bowling, Lahiru Kumara’s impressive rise
Not many fast bowlers have played for Sri Lanka at the age of 19. For that matter, not many cricketers have walked straight into the national team after school cricket. Renowned Cricket Commentator, Roshan Abeysinghe brings you an exclusive audio analysis on Cricketry on day one of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and South Africa in Cape Town.
He actually fared better claiming seven for 116 against Zimbabwe more than two decades ago. This is by the way not the modern Zimbabwe, but the old Zimbabwe when they were still captained by David Houghton and the batting comprised Flower brothers, Alistair Campbell and other distinguished players.
Lahiru Kumara was 19 years and 324 days old when he stunned the South Africans. Pushpa was 19 years and 97 days when he accomplished his feat in Harare in 1994. Kumara came through the ranks having represented Sri Lanka at the under-15 and under-19 levels. Pushpa’s emergence is of fairytale stuff. At under-15 level, Pushpa was a wicket keeper for St. John’s College, Panadura. Then he volunteered to bowl. A few years later, when MRF Pace Academy in Madras offered Sri Lanka scholarships, then Board Secretary Mr.Neil Perera aggressively pushed for Pusha’s inclusion.
Mr. Perera, who served the cricket board for more than 25 years, was from Panadura. He was a top engineer at Ceylon Electricity Board and ran the cricket board singlehandedly. His wife used to do all the typing for him on cricket related matters during those difficult times when the board was penniless. 
Mr. Perera was to Panadura what Jagmohan Dalmiya was to Calcutta. He took Pushpa under his wings and took care of his wellbeing.
The cricketing fraternity at Panadura supported Pushpa as well. He initially played for Panadura Sports Club and the locals were upset when he moved over to the more posh Nondescripts Cricket Club, few years later. Pushpa made his Test debut alongside Chaminda Vaas against Pakistan in 1994 in Kandy, only a month after his 19th birthday.
The debuts were hardly an indication as to how their careers would progress. In Pakistan’
s only innings, Vaas went wicketless while Pushpa claimed four. His victims were Saeed Anwar, Aamer Sohail, Asif Mujtaba and Wasim Akram.
Yet, Vaas went onto become Sri Lanka’s most successful fast bowler and represented four different English counties. Pushpa finished with nothing much to boast about. Vaas had 355 Test wickets and Pushpa merely 58!
“Pushpa is definitely the most talented fast bowler I have seen. There’s no doubt about that. He was immensely talented,” Vaas recalled.
Both players were groomed at MRF Pace Academy in Madras by Dennis Lillee. Even Jesus Christ had a favourite disciple. His name was John. So did Dennis Lillee. His favourite disciple’s name was Pushpa.
“Pushpa was very popular at MRF. If Dennis Lillee tells him to bowl an in swinger, he would do it effortlessly. Out swing, reverse swing, yorker, bouncer, Pushpa was the expert of them all,” Vaas added.
Lillee had no doubt whatsoever that he was seeing the next best thing in fast bowling. Pushpa was nicknamed ‘Baby Waqar’. Two months after his debut, Pushpa toured Zimbabwe. It was there he claimed his seven wickets in an innings. Ranjit Fernando, the current manager was also managing the team at that point.
“Pushpa had raw pace and it was too much to handle for the opposition. He was young, strong and fit and would run in and bowl for hours. When someone has got the ability to swing the ball at extreme pace, it’s quite tough to handle. The Zimbabweans were struggling against him,” Fernando recalled.
After the initial stages, he did excel in patches, but never had the consistency or the accuracy of Vaas. During Sri Lanka’s first ever tour to the West Indies, on a lively wicket at St. Vincent’s, he annihilated the Windies with express pace as they were shot out for 147. Pushpa took five for 41.
Sri Lanka nearly created history by winning that game. Chasing 269, they were 189 for three with Arjuna and Aravinda batting. Rain halted Sri Lanka’s progress and then an eventual collapse saw them being reduced to 233 for eight. Arjuna was still batting a lonely battle unbeaten on 72. The game ended in a thrilling draw. 
After that performance, Pushpa just faded away. Some believed that he didn’t work hard enough to improve his game while others felt that he was simply unlucky. Pushpa was a character. His stories on and off the field are legendary.
The best of them is how Dav Whatmore and the senior players gave Pushpa plenty of messages to give Aravinda and Gurusinghe during the run chase in the World Cup final as he was getting ready to carry drinks. As he ran into the middle, Pushpa thought to himself that with everything going so smoothly why he should bother. So he went to the middle and all what he told the two batsmen was, ‘well played aiyya’. Apparently he was worried that too many instructions were going to upset the batsmen’s concentration.
Former coach Bruce Yardley had once told him that whenever a batsman plays and misses to stare at him. Perhaps use the four letter word occasionally too. Pushpa took it to heart, but practiced it wrong. Once he bowled a juicy half-volley to Salim Malik and it was duly punished to the boundary.
Pushpa stared at the Pakistani captain and said, ‘f*** u’. Arjuna was baffled. He questioned Pushpa as to what he had just uttered after such a pathetic delivery and hit back saying, ‘f*** u too’.
This incident takes place at the MRF Pace Academy. Lillee was using some of the novel coaching techniques for warm-ups and warm-downs for fast bowlers. Swimming was one of them. When the coach wasn’t present, on the sly, some of the players would dive. It was fun, Pushpa took note. He too dived but ended up hurting his head badly. Nothing was wrong with the pool. Pushpa had tried his dive at the shallow end.
Lahiru Kumara says he can clock up more speed
On a disastrous day for the Sri Lankan cricket team, where they were shot out for 110 in the first innings in reply to South Africa’s 392 all out in the second Test in Cape Town, there was only one positive.
Usually when going on a tour, a senior player would fill up Pushpa’s embarkation card. But a few years later he was confident that he could do it on his own. So he filled the card. In front of the column which said profession, he had filled ‘FAST BOWLER’.
That was Pushpa. There was never one like him. Before or after.
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