Pawuluge Malinda Pushpakumara, commonly as Malinda Pushpakumara (born 24 March 1987) is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who played Test and ODIs. He plays for Colombo Cricket Club in first-class cricket.[1] In January 2019, he took all ten wickets in an innings in a first-class cricket match.[2]

Malinda Pushpakumara
Personal information
Full name
Pawuluge Malinda Pushpakumara
Born (1987-03-24) 24 March 1987 (age 37)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Height5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingSlow left-arm orthodox
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 141)3 August 2017 v India
Last Test23 November 2018 v England
ODI debut (cap 184)31 August 2017 v India
Last ODI3 September 2017 v India
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2008–2010Moors Sports Club
2012–2015Saracens Sports Club
2015–presentChilaw Marians Cricket Club
2020Dambulla Viiking
2022Chattogram Challengers
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 4 2 150 104
Runs scored 102 11 2,289 440
Batting average 17.00 5.50 13.78 10.00
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/4 0/0
Top score 42* 8 80* 29
Balls bowled 860 114 33,201 4,927
Wickets 14 1 863 175
Bowling average 37.14 105.00 20.09 18.71
5 wickets in innings 0 0 72 5
10 wickets in match 0 0 24 0
Best bowling 3/28 1/40 10/37 5/24
Catches/stumpings 2/– 2/– 140/– 36/–
Source: Cricinfo, 28 December 2022

Domestic career

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He took the most wickets in the 2016–17 Premier League Tournament, with a total of 77 dismissals from 9 matches and 18 innings.[3]

In November 2017, he was named the best bowler in domestic cricket for the 2016–17 season at Sri Lanka Cricket's annual awards.[4]

He also took the most wickets in the 2017–18 Premier League Tournament, with a total of 70 dismissals from 10 matches and 20 innings.[5] In March 2018, he was named in Galle's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament.[6][7] The following month, he was also named in Galle's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.[8] He was the leading wicket-taker for the tournament, with fifteen dismissals in six matches.[9]

In August 2018, he was named in Kandy's squad for the 2018 SLC T20 League.[10]

In January 2019, during the round six match between Colombo Cricket Club and Saracens Sports Club in the 2018–19 Premier League Tournament, Pushpakumara took all ten wickets in the second innings of the match.[2] It was the first ten-wicket haul in an innings in first-class cricket since 2009, and the best figures since 1995.[11] In the same match, he also took his 700th first-class wicket[2] and became the second Sri Lankan bowler to take all ten wickets in an innings.[12] He finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker, with 63 dismissals in nine matches, which included seven five-wicket hauls.[13]

In March 2019, he was named in Kandy's squad for the 2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament.[14] In January 2020, he was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019–20 SLC Twenty20 Tournament, with eighteen dismissals in nine matches.[15] In October 2020, he was drafted by the Dambulla Viiking for the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League.[16]

In July 2022, he was signed by the Kandy Falcons for the third edition of the Lanka Premier League.[17]

International career

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In February 2017, he was named in Sri Lanka's Test squad for their series against Bangladesh, although he did not play.[18]

In July 2017, he was named in Sri Lanka's Test squad for their series against India.[19] He made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against India on 3 August 2017.[20] He had to bowl 20 overs for the maiden wicket, when he stumped Ajinkya Rahane. However, his bowling figures of the match was 2 for 156 runs, where India recorded 619 for the first innings. Pushpakumara played as the night-watchman in the second innings, where he scored 16 runs. However, Sri Lanka lost the match by an innings and 53 runs at the end.

The following month, he was named in Sri Lanka's One Day International (ODI) squad for their series against India.[21] He made his ODI debut on 31 August 2017 against India. He gave away 65 runs without taking a wicket and only scored 3 runs.[22]

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.[23][24]

References

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  1. ^ "Malinda Pushpakumara". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Malinda Pushpakumara bags all 10 wickets in an innings". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Records: Premier League Tournament Tier A, 2016/17: Most wickets". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  4. ^ "Gunaratne wins big at SLC's annual awards". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Records: Premier League Tournament Tier A, 2017/18: Most wickets". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Cricket: Mixed opinions on Provincial tournament". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka). 26 March 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  7. ^ "All you need to know about the SL Super Provincial Tournament". Daily Sports. 26 March 2018. Archived from the original on 27 March 2018. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  8. ^ "SLC Super Provincial 50 over tournament squads and fixtures". The Papare. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  9. ^ "2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  10. ^ "SLC T20 League 2018 squads finalized". The Papare. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  11. ^ "Malinda Pushpakumara takes ten wickets in an innings". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  12. ^ "Pushpakumara takes all ten wickets in a first-class innings". BDcrictime. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  13. ^ "Premier League Tournament Tier A, 2018/19: Most wickets". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  14. ^ "Squads, Fixtures announced for SLC Provincial 50 Overs Tournament". The Papare. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  15. ^ "SLC Twenty-20 Tournament, 2019/20: Most wickets". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Shahid Afridi among big names taken at LPL draft". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  17. ^ "LPL 2022 draft: Kandy Falcons sign Hasaranga; Rajapaksa to turn out for Dambulla Giants". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  18. ^ "Herath to lead Sri Lanka, Pushpakumara called up for Bangladesh Tests". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  19. ^ "Dhananjaya, Pradeep return to Sri Lanka's Test squad". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  20. ^ "2nd Test, India tour of Sri Lanka at Colombo, Aug 3-7". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  21. ^ "Thisara, Siriwardana return to ODI squad". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  22. ^ "4th ODI (D/N), India tour of Sri Lanka at Colombo, Aug 31 2017". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  23. ^ "Sri Lanka assign 33 national contracts with pay hike". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  24. ^ "Sri Lankan players to receive pay hike". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
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