Rajans skipper Upendra going great guns

All rounder Upendra Warnakulasuriya, is the cricket captain of Dharmaraja College, Kandy for the current season and he is a left arm orthodox bowler and right hand middle order batsman. He is a fine fielder in any position and he started his cricket career in the year 2000 under the coaching of Senaka Dissanayake and continued playing under the Coaching of Ananda Wijesekera. Upendra learnt his basics in cricket at the ‘Future Stars’ Cricket Academy for two years under Senaka Dissanayake at week-ends. At the College Academy he was coached by Harold Ranasinghe in the year 2010 and he improved by practicing regularly.

In 2011 and 2012 he played for the Under 13 Cricket team in School and in the first year he captured 26 wickets and the best being bagging 5 wickets for 8 runs against Trinity College in a friendly match. In 2013 as an Under 15 player he captured 32 wickets with a five wicket haul and Upendra continued his bowling as a second year player in the Under 15 team to capture 27 wickets at the Division One under 15 Cricket tournament with five wicket hauls for the second successive Year. In 2016 as an Under 17 first year player he played under the captaincy of Sachintha Senanayake and bagged 32 wickets including a five wicket hauls against Trinity, Sri Sumangala and Rahula, Matara. In 2017 he was selected to the first XI Cricket team and claimed 23 wickets and in 2018 under the captaincy of Bawantha Udangamuwa he proved his class as a left arm leg spinner who claimed 59 wickets as one of the leading bowlers among the Sri Lanka Schools.

In the ‘Big Match’ against Kingswood College he was adjudged the Man of the Match when he claimed 5 wickets for 64 runs and in the Limited over match against Kingswood Upendra claimed 3 wickets for nine runs in 10 overs winning the Best Bowler’s Award. In 2020 season he bagged 62 wickets as a fourth year player with five wicket hauls against , Ananda, Nalanda, Dharmapala, Maliyadeva and Rahula, Matara.

In the year 2021 so far, as the Captain of the Cricket team he has claimed 18 wickets with two five wicket hauls against Nalanda and St.Aloysius College, Galle. His main ambition is to give of his best for the school in cricket and he is determined to represent Sri Lanka at Test Level.