By Harsha Amarasinghe

Rebellious resilience seems to be the norm for Rajapaksas at present, but in the case of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, the rebellious resilience has come in a very positive manner.

The burly left-hander had a reputation for hard-hitting from his school days, having also starred for Sri Lanka juniors in the Under-19 World Cup in 2012 – a tournament which many consider was Sri Lanka’s best chance to have bagged one title that is missing in the SLC Museum. However, that dream was shattered by then Australia Under-19 captain Mitchell Marsh who scored a match-winning 97 to seal a thrilling two-wicket victory for the Kangaroos.

Despite making waves early in his career, Rajapaksa went under the radar for nearly eight years before he blasted it around in Pakistan, again in a positive manner, helping Dasun Shanaka’s men secure a 3-0 clean sweep against then world number one T20 team in 2019.
However, with the arrival of new head coach Mickey Arthur, Rajapaksa would again fall out of favour, and it was at this stage Rajapaksa decided it’s going to be his way or no way, giving an explosive interview to one of the local YouTube channels, hammering the coach and the SLC and creating a huge public outcry – Malinda Pushpakumara, Anil Rideegammanagedara, Bathiya Perera and many others must be wondering whether they should have opted for a similar approach.

Rajapaksa would hire a personal trainer, bring down his skinfold considerably and brush aside all the talks about his fitness within a month, at which point, had he not been given a chance, it would have made to look like SLC or the coach held a grudge over the player. So, Rajapaksa got an opportunity and made it count like a true champion carrying his form all the way to the T20 World Cup 2021 in which he performed exceptionally well.

As much as it sounds like a happy ending, again in a positive manner, the story was just beginning. The in-form middle order batsman would shock the Sri Lankan cricket fraternity by announcing his retirement in January 2022 apparently over the strict fitness code introduced by the SLC. This saw hundreds of cricket fans gathering in front of SLC headquarters and demanding Rajapaksa be reinstated.   

A couple of weeks later though he withdrew his decision to retire following the talks held between himself and then Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa – probably one of the few good things he did for sports in Sri Lanka.

Yet, Bhanuka was not picked for Sri Lanka tour of Australia and India, but during the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction he became the only Sri Lankan batsman to be picked for the most glamorous T20 event in the world.

With first choice wicket keeper Jonny Bairstow not available for the Punjab Kings, Bhanuka was given the chance to play as their wicket keeper and the 30-year-old did not disappoint having batted really well in the first three games. But as soon as Bairstow was in India, Bhanuka was dropped from the team, probably because the former is English and has a decent record in the IPL.

This time, the Indians were crying out for the Sri Lankan star as Punjab Kings lost match after match while the Englishman Bairstow failed miserably.

On Monday (25), Rajapaksa again showed his class scoring the big runs on his return, justifying the recall to Punjab’s playing XI.
This is why Rajapaksa must be commended because being a likeable player, a favourite player or the people’s player is one thing, but having to perform under such a huge pressure is incredibly difficult.

Soori – SLR’s Tuwai

Srinath Sooriyabandara has been named captain of Sri Lanka 7’s rugby team ahead of the Asia Games following his stunning league campaign for the defending champions Kandy Sports Club.

Sooriyabandara was one of the most feared 7’s players at least in the Asian circuit for such a long time, but he had a horrible knee injury a few years ago after which he seemed to struggle bit. But his performances this season are a clear indication that the maestro is back to his best. If Sri Lanka has anything close to the global star Jerry Tuwai, it’s him.