BENGALURU: Sri Lanka's modern pacers have a thing about them. They can bowl serious heat (150kmph heat) but they don't have the arrogance or the swagger to go with it. If pacers from other nations readily sign up for a staring contest with the batters, the ones from the island nation like to do it their way. They are more likely to gift soft, cuddly toys as a means of appeasement. With Dushmantha Chameera, Dilshan Madushanka and Matheesha Pathirana also in the mix, these are heady days for the country's pace factory.
When on song -- when admittedly he does a lot of the heavy lifting -- Kumara is the spearhead of this factory, a totem. On Thursday, the 26-year-old, whose simple action belies his heat, broke England's spine with the wickets of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Liam Livingstone to return with figures of 3/35 in seven overs. England managed just 156.
It was liquid Kumara, a spell totally built in his image. Fast, erratic but on point when he hit the right notes. On the field, he even dived over a ball and almost injured himself in the process. Injury is of course one reason why Kumara has never lived up to his true potential. (That he has shown a laissez-faire attitude to fitness also hasn't helped. The selectors had dropped him from a series against Zimbabwe last year because he had failed a skin folds test).
In an age when team managements have gone above and beyond to care for their biggest stars, Sri Lanka adopted an interesting tactic with the pacer. Since making his debut for the national team in 2016 (when he hadn't even spent a handful of days in first-class cricket), they have made him play all three formats: 26 Tests, as many T20Is and 28 ODIs. It's curious because his body hasn't been designed to take that workload without breaking down. In fact, he has had to go off the field with an injury in as many as four Tests (Gabba; 2019, Centurion; 2020, Pallekele; 2021 and Mohali; 2022). They fast-tracked him into the longest form of the game because of his potential without realising that it could have consequences.
Considering his ample gifts with a ball in his hand, it's a wonder that Kumara didn't want to do this for a living. His original calling card was field hockey. During his Under-15 days, a stray stick caught him flush near an eye. He had to be hospitalised. When he was recovering at the hospital, Kumara's mother burnt his hockey stick as she couldn't see the sight of her son being prone on the turf, lying on a pool of his own blood. Still crestfallen, he turned to cricket to focus his energy. That's when he realised he had the ability to bowl fast. From there, he went to Trinity College before playing an important role in the country's 3-0 whitewash over England's Under-19 side in 2016 (he picked 4/46 in a squad also featuring Charith Asalanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Avishka Fernando and Ashen Bandara).
GasMan cometh
Of course, Kumara has not had many afternoons like the one he had in Bengaluru on Thursday. It had its apogee the moment he removed Ben Stokes with a short delivery that got big on the batter. Stokes' swat was safely pouched in the deep and that was the game for Sri Lanka. But, the GasMan as he's known for his relentless energy, Kumara is more readily identified with the match-losing final over he delivered at the T20 World Cup in Sharjah in 2021.
Defending 15 with six balls remaining, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada knocked off the runs in five balls to virtually eliminate the Lankans. In the immediate aftermath of that spell (0/35 in 3.5 overs), Kumara became the face of memes back home.
There will be more memes on Thursday. But these ones will show the pacer in a positive light.
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