Inter-university cricket in Sri Lanka is not at a very competitive from which the best performers are picked to play in the next level. It is more or less a competition where undergraduates with plans of academic careers play to enjoy the game they love.
Players who take cricket more seriously rarely end up in a university, instead they pursue a career playing professional cricket. This has been the norm among Sri Lankan students of late and students who excel in both fields end up making headlines.
If you are a follower of the game in Sri Lanka, you definitely would have ended reading the above introduction with the name ‘Hasitha Boyagoda’ in your mind. Boyagoda hit the headlines when he scored the record highest individual score in Youth ODIs, a 152-ball knock of 191, for the Sri Lanka U19s in a game in the ICC U19 World Cup in 2018. Along with his cricketing excellence, his academic achievement of obtaining a district rank in the G.C.E Advanced Level examination in 2017 was also highlighted.
Read – Hasitha Boyagoda; the phenomenon
Boyagoda, who currently studies in the Faculty of Management & Finance of the University of Colombo found a rare scorecard of a game between his university and the University of Ruhuna played in the 2003 Inter-University cricket tournament. What makes that scorecard special is that it had names of two Sri Lanka test caps. Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara and Jehan Mubarak who has represented Sri Lanka in both Cricket and Water Polo.
By the time of this game, Sangakkara had already played more than 20 Tests and nearly a 100 ODIs including a World Cup. However, Sangakkara, whom we all know as one of the finest batsmen to play the great game, opened the bowling for the University of Colombo in this game. “Sanga was never given to bowl in the national team. He was a wicket-keeper, but still, he was not even given to bowl in the nets. So he wanted to try bowling in the inter-university games. He bowled a medium pace and also bowled with the new ball. He used to bowl in a lot of matches in the Inter-University tournament. He did a decent job” former teammate Jehan Mubarak said. He too was a national cap with 2 Tests and 7 ODIs under his belt by the time this game happened.
Unlike Sangakkara, who unfortunately had to give up the LL.B degree he was doing in the Faculty of Law, Mubarak managed to finish his degree. “I studied in the Faculty of Science and I did Chemistry, Physics and Applied Maths. I also played cricket for the university during all 4 years” said Mubarak who reminisced on his days as a University Student while playing cricket for Sri Lanka and CCC.
When asked about how competitive the tournament was back then, Mubarak fondly recalled “It was highly competitive. Teams like Peradeniya (University of Peradeniya) used to come hard at us. We even had Hemantha Botheju (has played 2 ODIs for Sri Lanka) in our team. We played good cricket.” 
Inter-university games are more often played in matting wickets. So for players like Sangakkara and Mubarak who played cricket at the highest level, coming back to play in standards comparatively lower than what they were training at may have been a tricky thing. However, Mubarak had a very interesting response to that, “It doesn’t matter at all. If you are a good cricketer you should be able to adjust to any surface. Just like you adjust in places like Australia and England you should be able to play on any surface that is provided. Both of us played on matting wickets for our university.”
Just as how Sangakkara stressed on the importance of producing balanced individuals from universities in his recent interview with Ravichandran Ashwin, who himself is a cricketer with an Engineering degree, Mubarak too urged young cricketers to continue their studies alongside their sporting careers. “In Sri Lanka, A/L is the hardest exam. If you can get through it while playing a sport, completing a degree while still playing the sport is not a hard thing. In university, you have more freedom. I would love to see budding players like Hasitha Boyagoda excel in both fields”.
It is indeed surprising to see how former cricketers like Sangakkara and Mubarak managed to excel in both sports and their academics. These are very inspiring personalities for the current generation and if you are a student who gave up sports or a sportsperson who gave up studies, it might be time to reconsider your decision.
