Pawuluge Malinda Pushpakumara, commonly as Malinda Pushpakumara is a professional Sri Lankan cricketer who plays Test and ODIs. He plays for Colombo Cricket Club in first-class cricket. In January 2019, he took all ten wickets in an innings in a first-class cricket match.
Domestic career
He took the most wickets in the 2016–17 Premier League Tournament, with a total of 77 dismissals from 9 matches and 18 innings. In November 2017, he was named the best bowler in domestic cricket for the 2016–17 season at Sri Lanka Cricket's annual awards. He also took the most wickets in the 2017–18 Premier League Tournament, with a total of 70 dismissals from 10 matches and 20 innings. In March 2018, he was named in Galle's squad for the 2017–18 Super Four Provincial Tournament. The following month, he was also named in Galle's squad for the 2018 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. He was the leading wicket-taker for the tournament, with fifteen dismissals in six matches. In August 2018, he was named in Kandy's squad the 2018 SLC T20 League. In January 2019, during the round six match between Colombo Cricket Club and Saracens Sports Club in the 2018–19 Premier League Tournament, Pushpakumara took all ten wickets in the second innings of the match. It was the first ten-wicket haul in an innings in first-class cricket since 2009, and the best figures since 1995. In the same match, he also took his 700th first-class wicket and became the second Sri Lankan bowler to take all ten wickets in an innings. He finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker, with 63 dismissals in nine matches, which included seven five-wicket hauls. In March 2019, he was named in Kandy's squad for the 2019 Super Provincial One Day Tournament. In January 2020, he was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019–20 SLC Twenty20 Tournament, with eighteen dismissals in nine matches.
International career
In February 2017, he was named in Sri Lanka's Test squad for their series against Bangladesh, although he did not play. In July 2017, he was named in Sri Lanka's Test squad for their series against India. He made his Test debut for Sri Lanka against India on 3 August 2017. He had to bowl 20 overs for the maiden wicket, when he stumped Ajinkya Rahane. However, his bowling figures of the match was 2 for 156 runs, where India recorded 619 for the first innings. Pushpakumara played as the night-watchman in the second innings, where he scored 16 runs. However, Sri Lanka lost the match by an innings and 53 runs at the end. The following month, he was named in Sri Lanka's One Day International squad for their series against India. He made his ODI debut on 31 August 2017 against India. He gave away 65 runs without taking a wicket and only scored 3 runs. In May 2018, he was one of 33 cricketers to be awarded a national contract by Sri Lanka Cricket ahead of the 2018–19 season.
