Posted on June 18, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 703 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
Lahiru Kumara Quick Info
Height
6 ft 1 in
Weight
85 kg
Date of Birth
February 13, 1997
Zodiac Sign
Aquarius
Spouse
Nethsarani Rajapakse
Lahiru Kumara is a Sri Lankan professional cricketer who has represented his country in all 3 formats of the sport (Tests, ODIs, and T20Is), as a frontline pace bowler. Before breaking into the senior national team in October 2016, he was a part of the Sri Lankan squad that competed in the 2016 edition of the ICC (International Cricket Council) Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Sri Lanka reached the semi-final of the tournament and eventually finished in 4th place in a field of 16 teams. In the Sri Lankan domestic circuit, Lahiru has played for Nondescripts Cricket Club (2016-Present), Kandy, and Galle across all formats. At the franchise level, he has turned out for Dambulla Viiking (2020), Kandy Warriors (2021), and Dambulla Aura (known as Dambulla Viiking in 2020 and Dambulla Giants in 2021) (2022) in the LPL (Lanka Premier League); and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (2023) in the ILT20 (International League T20).
Lahiru Kumara as seen in an Instagram Post in January 2019 (Lahiru Kumara / Instagram)
Sun Sign
Aquarius
Born Place
Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka
Residence
Sri Lanka
Nationality
Education
Lahiru had attended Trinity College, an independent private school for boys in his hometown of Kandy. He had also studied at the Wariyapola Sri Sumangala College, a boys’ school, also situated in Kandy.
Occupation
Professional Cricketer
Lahiru Kumara as seen in an Instagram Post in September 2018 (Lahiru Kumara / Instagram)
Batting
Left-Handed
Bowling
Right-Arm Fast
Role
Bowler
Jersey Number
8 – Test Match, One Day International (ODI), T20 International (T20I)
Build
Athletic
Height
6 ft 1 in or 185.5 cm
Weight
85 kg or 187.5 lbs
Lahiru Kumara as seen in an Instagram Post in February 2019 (Lahiru Kumara / Instagram)
Girlfriend / Spouse
Lahiru has dated –
Nethsarani Rajapakse (2022-Present) – Lahiru married his long-term partner Nethsarani Rajapakse in April 2022.
Race / Ethnicity
Asian
He is of Sri Lankan descent.
Hair Color
Black
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
Affable smile
Sports a thick beard
Lahiru Kumara as seen in an Instagram Post in May 2018 (Lahiru Kumara / Instagram)
Lahiru Kumara Facts
In January 2017, in the 2nd match of a 3-match bilateral away test series against South Africa, Lahiru registered his maiden five-wicket haul in the test match format. His bowling figures (6/122) were the then-best by a Sri Lankan pacer in a test match in South Africa.
This also made him the 2nd-youngest Sri Lankan bowler, at that time, to have claimed a five-wicket haul in a test match. Despite Lahiru’s performance, South Africa won the match by 282 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. South Africa would go on to whitewash Sri Lanka in that series.
In October 2021, in Sri Lanka’s opening match of the first round of the 2021 edition of the ICC T20 World Cup, Lahiru bowled a miserly spell (2/9 in 3.3 overs) that helped Sri Lanka bundle out Namibia for just 96 runs. He bowled another impactful spell (2/22 in 4 overs) in the team’s next match – against Ireland.
In Sri Lanka’s 3rd (and last) match of the first round of this tournament, Lahiru produced ‘Player of the Match’ winning bowling figures (3/7 in 3 overs) to knock over the Netherlands for a mere 44 runs. As of March 2023, this was the 2nd lowest total ever recorded by a team in the ICC T20 World Cup. Incredibly, the lowest such score (39 runs) was also registered by the Netherlands, again against Sri Lanka – in the 2014 edition of the tournament.
With 3 wins in 3 matches in the first round, Sri Lanka progressed to the ‘Super 12’ stage of the tournament. The team’s performance tapered there as they won only 2 of their 5 matches and were eliminated from the tournament. Lahiru’s performances mirrored the team’s efforts – he picked up only 1 wicket in the first 4 of these 5 games and was dropped from the 5th.
