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Kaushal Lokuarachchi – Talent beyond Question

Kaushal Lokuarachchi was another talented Sri Lankan prospect, who I was lucky enough to meet during my trip to Sri Lanka this summer. Loku, as he is colloquially known by his mates, is according to many, one of the many upcoming spinners of Sri Lankan cricket. Although he has had his own problems against the law of the country, Kaushal has made it sure that cricket stands top priority. Currently a regular in the One-Day side, Kaushal is yet to make in-roads into the Test arena, although he has played a handful of them. Like many of his team mates, Kaushal is also one of the products of the rich school cricket culture that defines the future of Sri Lankan cricket.

Kaushal represents Bloomfield Cricket Club, which boasts of Lankan stalwarts like Sanath Jayasuriya. After enjoying reasonable success in both the Club Cricket League and the Provincial Tournament, he was first chosen to play for Sri Lanka ‘A’. After putting in some good performances for the Lankan Second XI, Kaushal was called straight into the Sri Lankan team, as a probable candidate to replace the experienced Kumara Dharmasena, who was dropped after the World Cup 2003. Kaushal made his debut for Sri Lanka in the Cherry Blossom Sharjah cup in 2003 against Kenya and believe it or not, he took the wicket of Steve Tikolo, with his very first ball in International ODIs. After making an impression in the Sharjah Cup, where Sri Lanka did not make it to the finals, Kaushal got his break into the test team against New Zealand at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. After going wicket less in the first innings, he showed his real talent in the second innings where he grabbed two wickets. Then an unfortunate incident in the life of Kaushal happened when he was found guilty of drunken driving and running over two pedestrians and the case is still pending in the court of law in Colombo. Kaushal was banned from all cricket for four months and probably one sees this time as the turning point of his career. The hunger and the passion to play for Sri Lanka and perform well was back and since then its never looking back for this 22 year old leggie.

He got back into contention for the Sri Lankan side after some good performances in the domestic circuit and now remains an integral part of the one day setup. One can classify him as a student of the Anil Kumble school of Leg Spin bowling. Besides being a talented legspinner, he also is a good batsman with a sound technique and also possesses the hard hits. He has played some crucial knocks, one of which was the one against South Africa recently, where he under pressure finished the match with a SIX ! He is one of the best fielders in the Lankan One Day team, thus proving the potential of some of the upcoming youngsters of Sri Lankan cricket. With this amount of talent, one can only see one way for this youngster – higher and higher!

Even though one may feel that he has had a run-in with the law, he’s one of the few good men to meet off the field. His youthful enthusiasm is evident in the way he does things off the field, which usually consist of some weird pranks on his team mates, which in its own way can help in maintaining the spirits of the team.

We at Cricketfundas.com would like to wish this immensely talented all rounder from Sri Lanka all the best in his future ventures and hopes that he drives both the car and the ball in the safest manner.