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

test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

er. He plays for the

Sinhalese Sports Club The Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) is a first-class cricket club in Sri Lanka. Singhalese is the most successful club in Sri Lankan domestic cricket, having won the Premier Trophy a record 32 times to 2017. Although the name is correctly spelt wi ...

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

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

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 , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , song = Thomian Song , athletics = Yes , sports = Yes , nickname = Thora , denomination = Anglican , patron ...

, where he Captained the First XI team in the historic 125th

The Battle of the Blues The Battle of the Blues (Also known as Royal–Thomian Cricket Encounter) is an annual Big Match in Sri Lanka played between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia since 1879. It is known as ''The Battle of the Blues'' due ...

. 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. 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 competiti ...

, with 950 runs in eight matches. In February 2019, Sri Lanka Cricket 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 finishin ...

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

tour of South Africa The Tour of South Africa was a stage cycling race in South Africa that was only held once, in 2011. It was part of UCI Africa Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by th ...

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 ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

. 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; si, දිමුත් කරුණාරත්න), popularly known as Dimuth Karunaratne, is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer and current captain of the Sri Lanka Test cricket team. ...

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 ( si, රංගන හේරත්; ta, ரங்கன ஹெரத்; born 19 March 1978), known as Rangana Herath, is a former Sri Lankan cricketer, who played all forms of the game and a f ...

heroics. In May 2018, he was one of 33 cricketers to be awarded a national contract by Sri Lanka Cricket 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 ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. Kaushal Silva regards Cheruka Weerakoon as his mentor and has modeled his personality around him.

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 his back side of the head. However, next day he was discharged with 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