It seems that the standard of the Sri Lanka cricket team has again started to decline with the two humiliating series defeats (3-0 in T20I and 2-0 in Test) in India, and one (4-1 in T20I) series defeat in Australia.
Sri Lanka Cricket coaching staff, selection committee and other responsible people like Mahela Jayawardena, consultant coach of Sri Lanka national cricket team, Aravinda de Silva, SLC Chairman Shammi Silva, should, definitely, think about this seriously.
However, in spite of all these frustrating outcomes, there is one positive sign in terms of ICC player ranking. Although Wanindu Hasaranga has lost his place at number 1 position in T20I bowling ranking because of his absence in the latter part of the Ausi series and whole India T20I series owing to contracting Covid-19, he can reach that place any time which is the specialty of Hasaranga.
Yet, the standout performance in ranking emerged from 24 year-old young batsman Pathum Nissanka. Before the Australia series he was at the 15th place in T20I batting ranking and after the India series he came up to 9th place gaining 654 points. The interesting thing is that Indian super star Virat Kohli went down to 16th place with 612 points and Rohit Sharma declined to 14th place with 633 points.
Australia and India T20 series
In the five-match T20I series against Australia he scored 184 runs with the average of 36.8, including 73 runs in the second match and 46 runs in the fourth match. In the second match against India he conceded 75 runs as well. The overall average in the India T20 series is 29.57 while the strike rate is 116.83.
Test match records
Nissanka’s Test batting performances are also excellent. There he conceded 427 runs in just six Tests with the average of 42.70. His Test debut for Sri Lanka was against the West Indies on March 21, 2021 at North Sound, and in the second innings in it, he scored 103 runs to become the fourth batsman for Sri Lanka to score a century on debut in Test cricket.
It was also the first century to be scored by a Sri Lankan batsman away from home on debut. In addition to the century, he also scored four half- centuries in Tests.
Family background
Pathum Nissanka Silva was born on May 18, 1998 in Galle. His father, Sunil Silva, worked as a ground boy whose income was low. Therefore, Pathum’s mother sold flowers near the Kalutara temple, and life was a struggle. So this was the environment that backed his cricketing life. As he was a student at Kalutara Vidyalaya national school, he started his cricket career from there.
He is a right-handed batsman, and at the outset, he was brilliant in batting. The major achievement in his school cricket was an unbeaten double century (205) off 190 balls against President’s College, Rajagiriya at Colts ground, Colombo in the Schools Cricket Championship.
Domestic career
His domestic cricket started in March, 2017 with his List A debut for Hambantota District in the 2016–17 Districts One Day Tournament. He made his Twenty20 debut for Badureliya Sports Club in the 2017–18 SLC Twenty20 Tournament on February 24, 2018.
In March 2018, he was named in Kandy squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament, and the following month, was put in Kandy’s squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.
Then, in February 2019, he scored his 1,000th run in the 2018–19 Premier League Tournament, batting for Nondescripts Cricket Club against Colombo Cricket Club. He finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer for Nondescripts Cricket Club, with 1,088 runs in seven matches. In March 2019, he was also included in the Kandy squad for the 2019 Super Provincial One-Day Tournament.
In August 2021, he was named in the SLC Greens team for the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 League tournament. Next, was selected for the Colombo Stars in the 2021 Lanka Premier League.
Talking of his first class career, in 39 matches he has scored 3,872 runs at an average of 63.47. He has scored 17 half centuries and 14 centuries with the highest being 217.
Initial international arena
He was first named in Sri Lanka A squad for the first-class series against Ireland A in January 2019. In that series he was the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka A with 258 runs in two matches.
Then in November 2019, he was named in Sri Lanka’s squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Later the same month, he was included in Sri Lanka’s squad for the men’s cricket tournament at the 2019 South Asian Games. The team won the silver medal, after losing to Bangladesh by seven wickets in the final.
Nissanka’s debut ODI was against the West Indies on March 10, 2021 at North Sound, while the debut T20 International was against the West Indies on March 3, 2021 at Coolidge. Three days later, Nissanka was named in Sri Lanka’s Test squad, also for their series against the West Indies.
Then, he was included in the Sri Lanka 2021 ICC T20 World Cup team. During the World Cup, he scored 221 runs in eight matches, including three half centuries. On January 16, 2022, against Zimbabwe, Nissanka scored his maiden ODI half century. He scored 146 runs in three matches, including two half centuries which earned him the Player of the Series.
In his total of 20 T20 matches he scored 562 runs at an average of 29.58, including five half-centuries. His highest score was 75. As per ODI records, he has conceded 232 runs in 12 ODI matches with the average of 19.33. There he recorded 2 half centuries including the highest score 75.
When considering all these records it is not difficult to judge his great skills in batting. But to continue his high performance he really needs a good private batting coach which he lacks.
Discipline issue
During the second T20 International against Australia in Sydney, Nissanka was reprimanded for “using audible obscenity”.
ICC match referee David Boon warned him with one demerit point which added to his disciplinary record because of breaching Article 2.3 of the ICC code that relates to “use of an audible obscenity during an International Match”.
The incident occurred when Nissanka missed a ball while
batting and reacted by using inappropriate language which was clearly audible on the stump microphone and on the field of play.
So, to come out of these little issues, he needs to develop his discipline.
The team’s disciplinary board should also focus on this matter because single incidents like these will affect the overall image of Sri Lanka cricket. However, apart from that, this young cricketer proves to be a new gem to Sri Lanka cricket.