The young Tharindu Kaushal’s bowling resembles more like our very own Muttiah Muralitharan and his spell against Pakistan on 25th June to take his maiden Test five-for reminded us how Murali tore-apart world-class batting lineups during his 18-year old Test career.
“Murali is my favourite bowler. Our run-ups are bit different from each other but the way we bowl the doosra and the off-break is much similar.” The rising spin bowling sensation told after his champion effort on Thursday afternoon to completely destroy the Pakistan batting with a cracking spell of 65 balls to take 5 wickets for only 44 runs.
The wide open eyes while delivering the ball and appealing for a dismissal was one of the trademarks of Muttiah Muralitharan. The sharp turning off-spinner and the mesmerizing ‘Doosra’ gave 800 Test wickets to the spin-king and fortunately Kaushal has all those attributes in his armoury as well.
Sri Lanka or the cricketing world never have thought they would see a similar phenomenon so soon after the great wizard’s retirement in 2010, but the 22-year old has given the cricketing fraternity a promising hope of witnessing another world-class spin-sorcerer in the future.
He was bombarded by Brendon McCullum on a green surface in Christchurch a few months back when he debuted on the Boxing Day Test but some critics were hopeful he would do wonders when he plays in spin-friendly conditions. Sri Lanka drafted him to the playing XI against South Africa in the all-important ICC World Cup quarter-final in Sydney but this time around, the batters failed to give him runs on the board to make a significant contribution.
Sri Lanka was 1-0 down against Pakistan coming into the second Test in Colombo and all eyes were on the selectors to make a change in the batting lineup but the door opened for Kaushal to play his first international game on his soil with the injury to Dilruwan Perera, “My captain, Angelo told me to be prepared to play two days before the game and then I started getting into the correct mindset. I did a lot of spot bowling, while warming the bench in Galle, I did spot bowling for three days. I think I was prepared for this.” Tharindu shared his views.
After Murali’s departure, Sri Lanka depended mostly on Rangana Herath to do the damage and especially against Pakistan, who does not play the left-arm spinner well. But on Thursday, it was the first time when Sri Lanka bowled out an opposition without him bowling a single ball since the start of Herath’s Test career.
Tharindu Kaushal was frequently in the business of taking five-wicket hauls in the domestic arena playing for NCC. After making his debut in 2013, the off-spinner has played 34 first-class matches up to now and has taken 204 wickets including 22 five-wicket hauls. He maintains a brilliant economy rate of 3.84 and an average of 21.56 but waited for almost 2 years to play his first International match at home, “I was first called up to the squad in 2013 against Bangladesh at home but I did not get a chance. I think this is the best time for me because now I have gained experience playing with the A team and I do not have any fear bowling against International batsmen. It was my childhood dream to play for Sri Lanka.” The mystery spinner from Rathgama said.
Usually a first-day surface at P. Sara Oval helps the faster bowlers to exploit the conditions but Kaushal spun savagely across the right-handed Pakistani middle order to dismantle the opposition in the rain-hit second session. “There was bit of spin in the surface and I believe there will be more spin as the game progress. The hard new ball helped me to let it through quickly with a bit of zip from the seam. I bowled the off-spinner mostly and four of my wickets were for the off-spinner, I took only one wicket of Yasir Shah with my doosra.” He further stated to the media.
On a day where his club mate Dushmantha Chameera made his Test debut and enthralled vastly clocking over 150kmph in a fiery spell, Tharindu Kaushal definitely stole the limelight with a cracking display of off-break bowling. The future of Sri Lanka bowling is no doubt Tharindu Kaushal together with Dushmantha Chameera. Hopefully they will learn and gain the much-needed exposure and stay fit in order become match-winners for the cricket-crazy island, Sri Lanka.
