One of numerous left-arm spinners that Sri Lanka hoped would fit into Rangana Herath’s mould, Neketh Gedara Roshan Prabath Jayasuriya or simply Prabath Jayasuriya, was a relatively late bloomer in international cricket having found himself down the pecking order. Hailing from Matale, a town some 25 km north of Kandy, Jayasuriya traveled all the way down to Colombo - a much longer 150 km journey - to play his cricket. A List-A debut came playing for the Colombo Cricket Club in 2011 but he’d have to wait another 7 years before making it to the international stage. An ODI debut, however, didn’t materialize into a regular spot in Sri Lanka’s XI.

It was playing Test cricket for Sri Lanka that Jayasuriya really had his heart set on. Despite being called up to the squad in 2021 for a series against Bangladesh, he was promptly dropped after failing to clear fitness tests. Now firmly behind both Lasith Embuldeniya and Praveen Jayawickrama in the race, Jayasuriya had to bide his time and wait hoping another opportunity would come his way. It might never have had fate not conspired as Jayasuriya’s Test debut came perhaps when he least expected it to. With Embuldeniya dropped owing to poor form by July 2022, Jayasuriya was roped in at the last second, on the insistence of skipper Karunaratne, for a series against Australia with preferred spinner Jayawickrama falling ill with Covid-19.

The opportunity Jayasuriya had yearned for finally came his way and he wasted no time to impress. Finishing the game with jaw-dropping figures of 12/177, Jayasuriya recorded the best figures ever for a Sri Lankan on Test debut. He followed that up with another splendid performance against Pakistan, where he picked up 17 wickets in a 2-match series, just a week later. That was enough to seal his spot as the premier spinner Sri Lanka had been longing for since Herath.

By Anurag Hegde