Chandrasekara Arachchilage Kasun Rajitha (born 1 June 1993) is a professional Sri Lankan

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, who plays all formats of the game in international level for Sri Lanka. He is an old boy of

St. Servatius' College St. Servatius' College is a boys' school located in Matara, Sri Lanka. The school was established in 1897 by recently arrived Belgium, Belgian Society of Jesus, Jesuit missionaries, led by Joseph Van Reeth, first bishop of Roman Catholic Dioces ...

, Matara.

Personal life

Rajitha's mother is a former director of education and father is a retired Grama Niladhari. His brother and sister are both graduates. Kasun is married to his longtime partner Chamaththi.

Early and domestic career

He played in the tour match between Sri Lanka Board President's XI vs Indian national cricket team in August 2015. In March 2018, he was named in Kandy's squad for the

2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament The 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament was a first-class cricket tournament, that was played in Sri Lanka during March and April 2018. It took place following the conclusion of the 2017–18 Premier League Tournament and featured four te ...

. He was the leading wicket-taker for Kandy during the tournament, with ten dismissals in two matches. The following month, he was also named in Kandy's squad for the

2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament The 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament was a List A cricket tournament that was played in Sri Lanka between 2 May and 10 June 2018, following the conclusion of the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. Four teams took part in the com ...

. In August 2018, he was named in Galle's squad the 2018 SLC T20 League. He was the leading wicket-taker in the tournament, finishing with thirteen dismissals in six matches. In March 2019, he was named in Kandy's squad for the

2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament The 2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament was a List A cricket tournament that was played in Sri Lanka between 4 and 11 April 2019. Four teams took part in the competition: Colombo, Dambulla, Galle and Kandy, with Galle being the defending ch ...

. In October 2020, he was drafted by the

Dambulla Viiking Dambulla Sixers, previously known as Dambulla Aura, Dambulla Giants, Dambulla Viiking, and Dambulla Thunders is a franchise Twenty20 cricket team based in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, that competes in the Lanka Premier League (LPL). In June 2021, Sri ...

for the inaugural edition of the

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional franchise cricket league established in 2020 in Sri Lanka. Matches are played using the Twenty20 cricket format by five teams named after Sri Lankan cities. The league was int ...

. In April 2025, he signed for

Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 w ...

to play five games of their

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

campaign.

International career

He made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) debut for Sri Lanka against India on 9 February 2016. He took the wickets of two Indian top order batsmen in his very first over. At the end, with the help of other seamers, India were all out for 101 and Sri Lanka won the match comfortably to lead the 3 match series 1–0. For his bowling performance of 3 for 29 runs, Rajitha won man of the match as well. With this victory, Sri Lanka regained the number one spot in the T20I rankings. In May 2018, he was named in Sri Lanka's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

squad for their series against the West Indies. He made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

on 14 June 2018. He took his first Test wicket by dismissing

Kraigg Brathwaite Kraigg Clairmonte Brathwaite (born 1 December 1992) is a Barbados, Barbadian cricketer and former Captain (cricket), captain of the West Indian cricket team, West Indies in Test cricket. He is a right-handed batsman and occasionally bowls off bre ...

. In July 2018, he was named in Sri Lanka's

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) squad for their series against South Africa. He made his ODI debut for Sri Lanka against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 1 August 2018. He took his first ODI wicket by dismissing

Quinton de Kock Quinton de Kock (born 17 December 1992) is a South African international cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for Titans at the domestic level and for South Africa in T20Is. He was named the Cri ...

. In March 2019, during the fourth ODI against South Africa, Rajitha and

Isuru Udana Kande Arachchige Isuru Udana Tillakaratna (; born 17 February 1988) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who represented Sri Lanka internationally in limited over formats. He currently plays domestic cricket for Tamil Union and Wayamba. Primarily ...

made the highest partnership for the tenth wicket for Sri Lanka in an ODI match, with 58 runs. However, Rajitha did not score any runs in the partnership, finishing the innings

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

without scoring. In June 2019, he was added to Sri Lanka's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

, for the team's last two matches of the tournament. He replaced Nuwan Pradeep, who had contracted

chickenpox Chickenpox, also known as varicella ( ), is a highly contagious disease caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV), a member of the herpesvirus family. The disease results in a characteristic skin rash that forms small, itchy blisters, which ...

. On 27 October 2019, in the first T20I match against Australia, Rajitha conceded 75 runs from his four overs, and were the most expensive bowling figures in a T20I match. In May 2022, in the second match against Bangladesh, Rajitha took his first

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

in Test cricket, with 5/64.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajitha, Kasun 1993 births Living people Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Sri Lankan sportsmen Cricketers from Matara, Sri Lanka Colombo Commandos cricketers Kilinochchi District cricketers Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Essex cricketers