Deshabandu
Deshabandhu (; ) is the third highest Sri Lankan honours system, national honour awarded in Sri Lanka. It is awarded "for meritorious service". The title is held by no more than 150 living holders at any time. It is conferred with a citation and ...
Karuppiahyage Ravindra Pushpakumara (born 21 July 1975), or Ravindra Pushpakumara, is a former Sri Lankan
cricket
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 ...
er of
Tamil -
Sinhalese mixed ancestry. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He was a key member of
Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup winning team.
Early and domestic career
Pushpakumura was educated at
St. John's College Panadura. He made his
Twenty20
Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...
debut on 17 August 2004, for
Nondescripts Cricket Club in the
2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament.
International career
Having impressed with Sri Lanka's Under-19s side, Pushpakumura made his
Test debut in August 1994 against
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, where he was noted as the fastest bowler Sri Lanka had for many years.
Despite his pace, his variation on duller pitches was lacking, and thus he failed to get into the Sri Lankan side on a regular basis. His best bowling figure in a Test innings is 7/116 which he made against
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
at
Harare Sports Club in 1994/95. Pushpakumara could be viewed as another fast bowling prospect which failed to live up to expectation from Sri Lanka. Some started to call him "Wild Johnny" for his wayward lines he came up with more often than not. Pushpakumura's last Test was against
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
in the
Asian Test Championship. Since 2004 he has played
Twenty-20 cricket.
References
1975 births
Living people
Basnahira South cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lankan cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Uva cricketers
Alumni of St. John's College, Panadura
Deshabandu
Cricketers from Panadura
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