Ajit de Silva - Sri Lanka - Batsman

Spinners are an abundant breed in the sub-continent and quite often, you see many in this category being domestic champions, only to falter on the big stage of international cricket. Ajit de Silva was one such bowler who was highly rated in the domestic circuit for his crafty left-arm spin that depended on loop and bite off the surface to purchase wickets. With a flowing action, Ajit was tipped to be one half of
Sri Lanka’s spin attack for a long time but that was never to be. He eventually ended up with just a handful of Tests and ODIs, with hardly any success in either format. In First-class cricket, his relentless style of bowling paid dividends, as he often outshone the batsmen in the waiting game. Perhaps, Ajit could have played more international cricket if he hadn’t taken part in the rebel tour to South Africa in 1985-86, an incident that gave him and the other squad members a life ban.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan