Ruvindu Gunasekara is no stranger to the International cricket arena having represented Canada in 19 ODIs and 8 T20Is. The southpaw has decided to seriously pursue his childhood dream of representing his birth country, Sri Lanka and dropped by ThePapare.com office to tell us about his journey so far.
My dream has always been to play international cricket for Sri Lanka – Ruvindu Gunasekara
One would think that moving to a country where Cricket is not really a mainstream sport would have meant the end of Ruvindu’s cricketing aspirations. However, on the contrary, he managed to keep his dreams alive through hard work and dedication to the sport.
In 2001, when we moved, people who grew up there didn’t know much about cricket, so they would ask if it’s similar to baseball and things like that, but right away, my dad played for a club there, so I was also pretty involved. After I got into the national set-up it was smooth sailing but until then it was a bit difficult in terms of getting good quality cricket. Over there, there is no good junior set up, there is no school system at all. So I was playing with people who were twice or three times my age.
Like many left handed batmen, Ruvindu was one who idolized Sanath Jayasuriya as a kid and has modeled his game on the power hitter. He is known for his ability to score at a quick rate and as a result feels that the white ball game suits him more than the longer format. He got the opportunity to play alongside his idol and described it as a big learning experience.
In my childhood, my idol was Sanath Jayasuirya and I got a chance to play with him when we had an all-star game in Toronto where Sanath and I opened the batting together. It was a great experience, you learn a lot during games like that.
A few years in the local club scene and trips to Sri Lanka in 2004/05 and 2010 helped Ruvindu keep himself amongst the top players in the Canadian circuit and a national call up came when he was at the tender age of 16. He made his debut in an ODI game against Bermuda and since then featured as a regular in both the Canadian Under 19 and Senior teams. He scored 207 runs at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup 2010 Qualifiers, including two half-centuries, and helped Canada qualify for the main event.
I was the youngest to play for Canada then. I felt as if at that time I was maybe not prepared for that stage but I learned a lot from that and used that experience and I knew where I had to be from a young age, that was the benefit of that.
Having spent the first 9 years of his life in the Emerald isle, it is no surprise that Ruvindu grew up living and breathing the game. This was further enhanced by the fact that his dad, Niron Gunasekara, was a professional cricketer himself, having represented Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic club in the late 80’s. The senior Gunasekara has clearly been a huge influence on his son, having functioned as his coach for much of his life.
My dad played for Sri Lanka A and Tamil Union for a few years and from that background, even when I was small, I grew up with a bat around me so I was playing from since I can remember. He’s been my coach and mentor throughout so he’s been a huge influence. We still go through each performance, each game so it’s definitely a close relationship.
Ruvindu had the unique opportunity of representing his adopted motherland in a World Cup in his birth nation, Sri Lanka in the year 2011. What’s more, he even got the opportunity to play against Sri Lanka as the two nations clashed in a group stage game in Hambanthota. Sri Lanka registered a comfortable 210 run win in the game in which Ruvindu was dismissed for just 1 run by Nuwan Kulasekara. He reflected on the experience, saying,
It was a weird experience in terms of playing against the country you were born in and the country you support but as a professional cricketer when you go for all these leagues, you play against your national cricketers, so I took it in that aspect.
In terms of playing for an associate nation, it is clear that the cricketing structure has a long way to go to reach the standards of full member teams. This is more or less in the hands of the various administrative bodies as according to Ruvindu, the number of games played by an associate nation is simply not enough for players to improve.
It’s very frustrating. You train throughout the year and if you’re lucky, you play 4-6 ODIs and you play 2/3 first class games and lately we’ve been playing a lot of T20, but even then you don’t get enough cricket to get a rhythm going.
However, this is not the sole reason behind Ruvindu’s choice to give it a go in Sri Lanka.
A lot of associate cricketers they think of playing Test cricket and to play Test cricket, you cannot play for an associate. Playing for a full member doesn’t just offer you Test cricket. To compare associate teams to full member, you get about 30-40 ODIs playing for Sri Lanka in a year. If I played for Canada for maybe 15-20 years, I’ll get that amount. So it’s the quality of cricket, the number of matches and also you can make it a profession over here. But for me it’s more of chasing my dream to play for Sri Lanka, that is what I have always wanted to do.
Ruvindu’s short term goals include making a name for himself during the domestic 1st season that just began and eventually, hopefully earn a Sri Lanka A call-up by the end of the club season. However, his drive will only be sated once he achieves the ultimate dream, which he has yearned for as long as he can remember.
The reason I came back after finishing my education is to chase my dream. My dream has been always to play international cricket for Sri Lanka; to represent the country I was born in and grew up in
