Nissanka targets improved rankings in 2022  

Rex Clementine at Pallekele  

Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) has many good things and rarely do you find players leaving the less popular Maitland Place club once they get themselves established. One of the club’s biggest strengths is Mr. Ranjit Fernando, the former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper batsman. ‘Uncle Ranjit’ as players call him, is not the President or Secretary of the Club but he’s a live wire and he’s been that for the last 40 years mentoring dozens of Test cricketers and half a dozen Sri Lanka captains from Ranjan Madugalle to Upul Tharanga. The latest prodigy he’s groomed is  Pathum Nissanka.

The 23-year-old Nissanka has been a revelation since he made his Test debut last season. A historic one at that as he became the first Sri Lankan to score a Test hundred on debut overseas.

West Indies is not the type of opponents that give you a true picture of a caliber of a player.  But there was no denying of the fact of his temperament and holding the nerve on the biggest day of his life.

Nissanka has proven that he’s no basher of weak opponents or a flack track bully like he did during his stunning 74 against a South African attack that had Rabada, Nortje and world’s number one ranked bowler Tabraiz Shamsi.

The year 2021 ended with Nissanka smashing three half-centuries in four innings against West Indies. That’s consistency for you which most young players lack. There is new hope as well that a dawn of a new era for Sri Lankan cricket is near. Nissanka was impressive in Sri Lanka’s first game in 2022 with the team chasing down the highest target at Pallekele and he was the key setting the tone for the run chase.

At the post match media briefing, Nissanka told journalists that he’s going to make the new year a productive one wanting to improve his international rankings.  According to official ICC Rankings for batsmen, Nissanka is ranked 63 in Test cricket, 66 in T20s while he does not feature in the top 100 ranked players in ODIs.

Nissanka wanting to make progress is a good sign. Currently, only Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne is ranked amongst the top ten players in Tests while Sri Lanka don’t have any players in the top ten in ODI or T20 cricket.

Nissanka’s start has been stunning with him turning everything that he touches into gold. But the bigger challenges are ahead. Not just necessarily on the field. There are more distractions off the field and we have seen many a young player going astray. Hopefully Nissanka will have the work ethic of a Virat Kohli and the smartness of a Kumar Sangakkara.

The second ODI will be played today at Pallekele.