It took 104 First Class matches for Roshen Silva to finally become the 144th Test player for his Country.
He hails from the St. Joseph College. In all those years, the same College produced Players like Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera and Dimuth Karunaratne for the national team. All they came, established and conquered. All those years, Roshen Silva was grinding himself in the domestic cricket, A teams and waiting for his chance.
When the chance finally came, in the third test against India at Delhi, he found himself in the middle against world’s Two best Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. In the first innings, he didn’t even troubled the scorer and got out for a duck.
It was disheartening to see a third ball duck for a player, who waited for his chance for almost a decade. Obviously, destiny could not have been so cruel for him. So, he got another chance. In second innings.
When he again came to the bat, fearing that this could possibly be his last innings for Sri Lanka of another failure comes, his team was reeling at 147/5 in the fourth innings on a fifth day pitch against World class bowlers.
There was no other options for Roshen other than to do or die.
This time, though, he was determined to prove to the World that he was made off! He started his innings chanceless and remained chanceless till the end. As Dhananjaya De Silva perished to glute injury after a scintillating hundred, his wicket could have easily given India the series 2-0. But, he denied that chance to India. In just space of five days, he became a hero from the zero.
And, after the match, he proved to the World that he knows his roots.
He thanked Sri Lanka A team Coach Avishka Gunawardana and manager Charith Senanayake for their contribution in his shaping.
“When I was with the A team, Avishka Gunawardana gave me encouragement to go on” He said on his Coach by giving him due credit.
“I am sure The coaching staff during our West Indies tour for the Sri Lanka A team would have said how well we played. Avishka and Charith (Senanayake) our manager saw our effort” He praised another man Charith Senanayake for their trust on His abilities.
This is a good quality to remember those who contributed in the making of a player.
Though, he has announced himself. He will most probably get more chances from there on. However, things aren’t going to be too easy for him for sure.
From the next test series, Players like Kusal Perera, Asela Gunaratne will be there to claim their test spots again, after having fully recovered from their respective injuries. Roshen will have to compete with them for a test place.
However, it’s not the time for him to worry about all these just yet. Right now, he can feel the thrill and enjoy that he came and he conquered.
