The million dollar kid

by Rex Clementine

In sports, you shouldn’t be afraid to try out new things. Duleep Mendis tried out using Sanath Jayasuriya as a pinch-hitter, the late Lucky Rogers backed Ajantha Mendis of carrom ball fame to bowl a delivery flicking his fingers, T.M. Dilshan of Dilscoop fame experimented with a scoop shot over the wicketkeeper’s head. All those innovations went onto become an integral part of the game. In 2015, Richmond College coach Dhammika Sudarashana requested one of his pace bowlers to try out wrist spin, the game’s most difficult art. Wanindu Hasaranga is his name. Seven years later, the seamer turned leg-spinner has fetched an IPL deal with Royal Challengers Bangalore worth US$ 1.43 million! Isn’t life quite astonishing.

If your kids are any good at sports, don’t encourage them to become a doctor, a banker or an engineer. Back them to play cricket and it only requires one IPL deal for them to get settled in life.

Wanindu’s father is a policeman. They lived in Ratgama, the same village as Lasith Malinga. He was keen in getting his children sent to popular schools in Galle, although his kids had to travel 15 kilometers one way. Those who are in government service have a provision to get their kids admitted to popular schools and Wanindu’s father succeeded. He had to pick between Mahinda and Richmond. He chose the latter. It was a brilliant choice.

Richmond had one of the best cricket programs in the country. If you just look at the players they have gone onto produce in the last decade you can see that.

At Richmond, they don’t care whether you score 1000 runs for the season or take 100 wickets for the season. They teach you a winning mentality. To keep fighting no matter how hopeless the situation is. That’s why Richmond won many games in the season outright. The players have developed that toughness and that can be seen in the likes of Wanindu, Kamindu Mendis and Charith Asalanka.

It’s quite astonishing that even seasoned campaigners like Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga didn’t go beyond one million USD at IPL auctions. Last year was a breakthrough one for Wanindu. He was world’s highest wicket taker in T-20 cricket and finished the T-20 World Cup with most wickets. His batting has won Sri Lanka some games and he is so handy on the field too. RCB think they have got the right man.

Wanindu’s cricket has improved leaps and bounds in the last two yers. It remains a mystery why he was overlooked for the 2019 World Cup. Mickey Arthur saw his value and started backing him. Toady he is on a different league. Apart from Wanindu, there were other Sri Lankans who have got IPL deals. Dushmantha Chameera was bought by Lucknow for USD 250,000 while Chennai Super Kings paid USD 92,000 for Maheesh Theekshana. Chamika Karunaratne was picked up by Calcutta for USD 65,000.