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Kaushal
Lokuarachchi - Talent beyond Question |
A Feature by Venkat
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.
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