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

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

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

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. 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. In August 2018, he was named in Galle's squad the

2018 SLC T20 League The 2018 SLC T20 League was a domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka, between 21 August and 2 September 2018. Four teams took part in the tournament: Colombo, Dambulla, Galle and Kandy. The Rangiri Dambulla International ...

. 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. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Dambulla Viiking for the inaugural edition of the

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional cricket league in Sri Lanka in Twenty20 format contested every year by teams representing Sri Lankan cities from 2020. The league was founded by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 201 ...

International career

He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(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 a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

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

Kraigg Brathwaite Kraigg Clairmonte Brathwaite (born 1 December 1992) is a Barbadian cricketer who captains the West Indies in Test cricket. He bats right-handed and occasionally bowls right arm off break. On 6 November 2011, he became only the second West India ...

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

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(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 southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

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 cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for South Africa in limited overs cricket, Titans at the domestic level, and Lucknow Super Gian ...

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

Isuru Udana Kande Arachchige Isuru Udana Tillakaratna ( si, ඉසුරු උදාන; 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 Ta ...

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

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). It was hosted between 30 May ...

, for the team's last two matches of the tournament. He replaced

Nuwan Pradeep Aththachchi Nuwan Pradeep Roshan Fernando ( si, නුවන් ප්‍රදීප්; born 19 October 1986), commonly known as Nuwan Pradeep, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer. Despite being a national cricketer, he had never actually p ...

, who had contracted

chickenpox Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). The disease results in a characteristic skin rash that forms small, itchy blisters, which eventually scab ...

. 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 batsman. 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 People from Matara, Sri Lanka Colombo Commandos cricketers Kilinochchi District cricketers Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup