Recently, Sri Lanka has been able to produce some very good ambidextrous bowlers, who have been able to reach the competitive level quite easily. The one who particularly stands out is Tharindu Rathnayake, who has made huge progress over the past year and a bit. He has been part of the Sri Lankan team for some time, but it is only now that his talent has become known to the public.
Tharindu Rathnayake, the ambidextrous spinner, who is he?
Tharindu Rathnayake is 29 years old and an ambidextrous spinner, who can bowl with both hands and is a skilled batsman. He uses the right-arm off-spin for left-handed batsmen and the left-arm orthodox for right-handed ones, thus he is one of the rarest kinds of bowlers. Another player with the same skill set is Kamindu Mendis.
Tharindu played his first Class match in 2015 and since then he has participated in 77 matches of the red-ball format. With 355 wickets taken at an average of 29.48 from 137 innings (including 27 five-wicket and five ten-wicket hauls), his stats are quite impressive. He has also scored 1821 runs at an average of 20.93 in 103 innings of First Class cricket, with nine fifties to his name.
Earlier this year, Tharindu Rathnayake was included in Sri Lanka’s Test squad for the series against Bangladesh, where he picked up nine wickets at a cost of 43.22 runs each in four innings, with his best being 3/102. He made it into the record books during the series as he became the first bowler ever to take wickets from both hands in Test cricket history. He also started playing List A cricket in 2015 and has already taken 130 wickets with an average of 25.21 in 85 innings, which also includes a five-wicket haul.
He has scored a total of 925 runs with a bat in 66 List A innings at an average of 18.50 and a strike rate of 94.77 including two fifties. The 29-year-old cricketer has also been a part of 65 T20s where he has taken 75 wickets at an average of 17.61 and an economy rate of 6.11 in 60 encounters one of which he has taken four-wicket hauls thrice. His immaculate bowling lines and lengths are indeed reflected in his low economy rate, which is one of the reasons why Tharindu is slowly coming onto the radar of franchises worldwide.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Sister Franchise Partnership In SA20 2026
The Orange Army has two ambidextrous spinners in their IPL and SA20 franchises – Kamindu Mendis and Tharindu Rathnayake respectively. The former is the one who has been hired as the partial replacement of Allah Ghazanfar in Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who is currently at ILT20 2025/26. He will play for Sunrisers in the first few matches.
Rathnayake has started the tournament well by taking two wickets for nine runs in 2.5 overs against Paarl Royals. He again displayed his ambidextrous skills by delivering off-spins and left-arm spins to left-hand and right-hand batsmen of the same innings. This quality makes him unpredictable and thus, very hard to conquer.
Tharindu Rathnayake still remains the most accurate bowler, leaves his lengths rarely, and is in perfect control despite using both hands. If he continues to be a key player in the remaining matches, the franchises would start noticing him slowly but surely all over the world. He would soon be very integral to the Sri Lankan national cricket team in all formats, depending on his performance with both bat and ball.
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