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 {{SriLanka-cricket-bio-1970s-stub