Suraj Randiv

Starting off as a fast bowler, Suraj Randiv, on the request of his coach switched to off-breaks as his school had no spinner in their Under-15 side. The rest as they say is history. Soon, Randiv made his transition into international cricket and is one of Sri Lanka’s upcoming talents.

A right-arm off-spinner, Randiv was immediately noticed by Marvan Atapattu after he took 23 wickets in only four matches in an Under-23 tournament in 2003-04. Atapattu then brought him over to the Sinhalese Sports Club. After a very successful 2005-06 season, his performances dipped and it was not until 2008-09 that he regained his form picking up 43 wickets. In 2009, he made an impressive ODI debut against India picking up three wickets and went on to make his Test debut against the same opposition in 2010, and only in his 2nd Test picked up nine wickets.

Randiv, with his tall frame has the ability to flight the ball above the eye-line of the batsman and is a good thinking bowler. Though not a big turner of the ball, he is very effective with his variations in pace and also bowls with an attacking mentality.