Jayan Kaushal Silva (born 27 May 1986), or Kaushal Silva, is a professional Sri Lankan

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

er. Educated on Sri Sumangala College Panadura. He plays for the

Sinhalese Sports Club The Sinhalese people, Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) was a first-class cricket club in Colombo, Sri Lanka till 2025 when they were relegated after enduring a horrendous 2024-25 version of the Major Club 3 day tournament in which they could only m ...

and the Sri Lankan national team. He made his first class debut in the 2001/02 season. He is a right-handed

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

Early career

Silva started off his cricketing career at

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia (abbreviated as STC), is a fee-levying Anglican selective entry boys' private school in Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by James Chapman, the first Anglican Bishop of Colombo, in 1851, it was founded as ...

, where he Captained the First XI team in the historic 125th The Battle of the Blues. During his school career he showed his ability to scoring big runs consistently during the seasons and his knack for putting up fighting, gritty innings. Silva received strong support from his father, a well recognized cricket coach, and credits him for the solid batting technique he has developed.

Domestic career

In March 2018, he was named in Colombo'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 run-scorer for

in the

2018–19 Premier League Tournament The 2018–19 Premier League Tournament was the 31st season of first-class cricket in Sri Lanka's Premier Trophy. The tournament started on 30 November 2018 and concluded on 10 February 2019. Fourteen teams took part in Tier A of the competition ...

, with 950 runs in eight matches. In February 2019,

Sri Lanka Cricket Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports (Sri Lanka), Ministry of Sports as the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka on 30 June 1975 as a national ...

named him as the Best Batsman in the

2017–18 Premier League Tournament The 2017–18 Premier League Tournament was the 30th season of first-class cricket in Sri Lanka's Premier Trophy, with the matches played across three days each in the group stage. Chilaw Marians Cricket Club won the tournament, after finishing ...

International career

After being a member of the Sri Lanka A side since 2009, Silva made his

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) ...

debut in October 2011 in a series against Pakistan. He was selected for Sri Lanka's

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at the end of 2011, but was dropped after the First Test. He scored his maiden test hundred against Bangladesh on 27 January 2014 at

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. During the Australian tour in 2016, Silva was struggling to score runs, where he was out for single-digit scores in all of his first 4 innings. The opening partnership often fell in the first few overs, where his counterpart

Dimuth Karunaratne Frank Dimuth Madushanka Karunaratne (born 21 April 1988; ), popularly known as Dimuth Karunaratne, is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer and former captain of Test cricket, Test and One Day International, ODI team of Sri Lanka national cr ...

also struggled in form. In his first five innings of this series, he scored only 12 runs. During the second innings of Third test at SSC however, he scored his third century - 115 off 269 balls, giving the team a strong lead. Sri Lanka comprehensively won the match by 163 runs, to whitewash Australia for the first time. After South African tour in late 2016, Silva was dropped from the squad due to poor performances. On 25 September 2017, Silva was re-called into the test squad for Pakistan series in UAE and played the first match back again as the opener. However, he scored only 12 and 25 in the two innings, Sri Lanka won the match by 21 runs with

Rangana Herath Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerthi Bandara Herath (; ; born 19 March 1978), known as Rangana Herath is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played all forms of cricket game and a former Test cricket captain for Sri Lanka. Considered as one of the ...

heroics. In May 2018, he was one of 33 cricketers to be awarded a national contract by

ahead of the 2018–19 season.

Personal life

Kaushal Silva is married to a Sri Lankan teledrama actress and a singer, Bhagya Hettiarachchi. The wedding was held on 18 April 2014 at JAIC Hilton,

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Head injury

On 24 April 2016, Kaushal was struck on the head during a practice match at Pallekele cricket stadium. He was immediately airlifted to a Colombo hospital and scans suggested that no real danger occurred by the hit. He was fielded at short leg, when he struck with the ball in the back of the head. However, next day he was discharged and he recovered quickly from bruises and mild injuries.

References

External links

*
Kaushal Silva
s profile page on Wisden {{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Kaushal 1986 births Living people Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Basnahira North cricketers Sinhalese Sports Club cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Ruhuna cricketers Sri Lanka Schools XI cricketers Kandurata Warriors cricketers Sri Lanka Cricket Combined XI cricketers Wicket-keepers Cricketers from Colombo