Chandradasa Brahammana Ralalage Lahiru Sudesh Kumara, commonly as Lahiru Kumara (born 13 February 1997), is a professional Sri Lankan

cricket 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 ...

er, who plays for the

Sri Lanka national cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions ...

in all three formats of the game. He was selected to the international squad at the age of 19, due to his fast bowling capabilities of 140+kmp/h and excellent performances in the Under-19 team.

Domestic career

Kumara made his first-class debut for Sri Lanka A against West Indies A on 4 October 2016. He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

debut for

Nondescripts Cricket Club Nondescripts Cricket Club (also known by its initials NCC) is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The team plays at the Nondescripts Cricket Club Ground. History The club was founded in 1888. The name "Nondescripts" is derived ...

in the

2017–18 SLC Twenty20 Tournament The 2017–18 SLC Twenty20 Tournament was a Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in Sri Lanka. It was played between domestic teams in Sri Lanka, with the tournament starting on 24 February 2018 and concluding on 8 March 2018. The matches ...

on 24 February 2018. In March 2018, Kumara was named in Kandy's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. The following month, he was also named in Kandy's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. In August 2018, Kumara 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 ...

. 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 ...

. In August 2021, he was named in the SLC Greens team for the 2021 SLC Invitational T20 League tournament. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the

Kandy Warriors Kandy Falcons, formerly known as Kandy Tuskers and Kandy Warriors, are a Sri Lankan franchise professional Twenty20 cricket team that competes in the Lanka Premier League (LPL), representing the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka which was founded in 202 ...

following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League.

Under 19s World Cup

Prior to his debut, Kumara was part of Sri Lanka's squad for the

2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2016 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament held in Bangladesh from 22 January to 14 February 2016. It was the eleventh edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the second to be held in Ban ...

. He guided the Sri Lanka U-19s team through to the semi-final along with pacer

Asitha Fernando Asitha Madusanka Fernando (born 31 July 1997) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer. He made his international debut for the Sri Lanka cricket team in July 2017. Under 19 and domestic career Prior to his Test selection, he was part of Sri L ...

to win the match by six wickets.

International career

Kumara was selected for 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 tour of Zimbabwe in October 2016. He made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe on 29 October 2016. He took his maiden Test wicket by dismissing

Peter Moor Peter Joseph Moor (born 2 February 1991) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He plays as a wicket-keeper batsman and is a former vice-captain for the Zimbabwe cricket team. Moor holds an Irish passport, and since 2021, he has been playing cricket in Ire ...

. Kumara was selected 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) team for Tri-Series in Zimbabwe, with

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 ...

being the third team. Kumara was called-up for the Test series against South Africa in 2016–17. He played in the second Test at

Newlands Cricket Ground Newlands Cricket Ground (known as Six Gun Grill Newlands for sponsorship reasons) in Cape Town is a South African cricket ground. It is the home of the Cape Cobras, who play in the Sunfoil Series, Momentum 1 Day Cup and RamSlam Pro20 competit ...

, taking his maiden Test five-wicket haul. His figures of 6 for 122 are the best bowling figures by a Sri Lankan pacer in South Africa and also the second best overall in South Africa. In January 2017, Kumara was added to Sri Lanka's ODI squad for their series against South Africa. He made his ODI debut against South Africa on 4 February 2017 at the

Wanderers Stadium The Wanderers Stadium (Imperial Wanderers due to sponsorship reasons and affectionately known as the Bullring due to its intimidating atmosphere) is a stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng Province, South ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. He scored 5 runs in the match and 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 ...

for 8 runs. In May 2018, Kumara was one of 33 cricketers to be awarded a national contract by

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 Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national spo ...

ahead of the 2018–19 season. In August 2018, he was named in Sri Lanka's squad for the one-off

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) match against South Africa, but he did not play. In November 2018, Kumara was removed from Sri Lanka's Test squad for their series against England due to disciplinary reasons. In January 2019, Kumara was named in Sri Lanka's

(T20I) squad for the one-off T20I against New Zealand. He made his T20I debut in that match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on 11 January 2019. Later the same month, Kumara sustained a hamstring injury on day two of the first Test in Brisbane against Australia. He was then ruled out of the second Test against Australia in Canberra and the

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 ...

. In September 2021, Kumara was named as one of four reserve players in Sri Lanka's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...

. But later in October 2021, he alongside three other cricketers were added to Sri Lanka’s main 15 man squad. He made his Twenty20 World Cup debut against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

on 18 October 2021, taking 2 wickets in the match and finishing the match with the figures of 2-9 from 3.3 overs.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumara, Lahiru 1997 births Living people Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lanka Test cricketers Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers Kandy District cricketers Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers Sportspeople from Kandy Dambulla Aura cricketers Kandy Falcons cricketers